White Apricot: Top 12 Eco Lingerie Picks

I was so super excited to see that Clare Bare at The Oko Box was included on the "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This" White Apricot Top 12 List for saucey nighties & lingerie! Not only that but On The Inside and Enamore were also featured, both these eco minded designers are being carried at The Oko Box too! Enamore's lux eco lingerie will be available starting September 1st 2008, which has my organic knickers in a bunch... I am so excited I can hardly wait.
Congrats to the savvy & talented Clare Bare, who was also featured in the Daily Green and the UK's Hippy Shopper this week!

Eco Friendly Building: EnviroGlass

After reading an article in Low Impact Living about the newly discovered dangers of granite countertops (that they can leak radon into your home) I was totally surprised. Sometimes a seemingly natural element just does not do well when taken out of it's environment and put into a home. Ozone is another example of this, have I ever told you how bad bad bad it is? (If not I will in another post.)
Low Impact Living provided an alternative material to granite, that I find similar but way more beautiful! And that is EnviroGlass! I am so in love with this versatile material, that can be made for countertops, but also into flooring (see pic). I love the way they cut it to mimic wood floors, but with that deep starry night blue! I wish I had a house to renovate, just for these gorgeous floors.
The glass comes in a variety of colors, cuts, and sizes- from red, blue, green and orange, to multi mixtures. Plus you can view the entire process of how it was made on the website, which is the kind of transparency I like to see in an environmentally friendly business.
Do you know of any other alternative countertop & flooring materials?

(Learning to) Sew With Local Organic Cotton Part 4

Trust me when I say that I know I went a little too short on this organic cotton jumper, with that said I think it would be rockin' with various long/cap sleeve tops & some leggings - (but I only have purple leggies and didn't want to mess up the pic.) This sassy little jumper is made from 100% locally woven organic cotton and upcycled buttons I cut off some funky thrift garb, totalling $3. It's meant to ride right under or at the bustline, and the buttons actually do work they are not just for decorative flare. I got the design idea from a Feel Good Style article featuring some cute eco summer fashion, so I can not claim the design as my own, but I am searching out cute outfits to help me learn to sew just by looking at the picture.

All you need to make this jumper is some organic cotton, or upcycle cotton fabric (stretchy is better- mine is not stretchy enough), and scissors, thread, measuring tape and two buttons. I have not figured out how to sew a button on my sewing machine yet, the directions are so BLEH I can't understand them. But sewing buttons by hand was really nice since I started zoning out into a peaceful creative state. OM!

PS- In the Picture are the second hand red cowgirl boots I got that I said I would wear "everyday forever" and so far I have...even when it doesn't match at all. :)

Food Allergies: Where Can I Eat?

Special Gourmets is a food allergy guide to eating out! This is pretty exciting for those with food allergies who have no clue where it's safe to go, and maybe don't want to be the first to try a place out. Special Gourmet is still in it's crawling stages, but is a community based website that you can add to and edit yourself, sharing knowledge of where it's safe to eat. It's easy to find a place by simply choosing your food allergy (gluten, wheat, soy, egg, dairy, shellfish etc...) and then typing in the destination you desire. The map is worldwide and is intended to help those with food allergies travel the globe and enjoy cuisine anywhere they go.

If you are a allergy serving business owner, you are also invited to add your listing for free.

Personally speaking, when I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease/Gluten Ataxia 7 years ago I never went out to eat again... and still have not. For some allergies the risk feels too high and I prefer to stay home and cook all my meals.

Do you have food allergies? Do you enjoy dining out or do you stay home instead?

Sunflower Blooming

Not much has survived the drought this year- but this sunflower is kickin' it! Watch it bloom :)

It's so pretty!

Eco Treasure Hunting at Festivals

This weekend is Belle Chere, the biggest festival in Asheville NC. To overcome my fear of giant crowds, funky smells, and crappy music I decided to turn it into a eco treasure hunt where I would seek out the most eco friendly booths! (For a focused review of the green crafts check out my article at Crafting A Green World). What I was surprised and happy to have found was that 1/3 of the booths were environmentally focused - which signifies awesome change. Upcycling, recycling, saving parks & trees, petitions, native herbs for sale, eco crafts, biodiesel, and unplugged music....


Here is a little sample of what I discovered along the way:
There were recycle bins everywhere! And the there was a whole booth dedicated to surveying people about their recycling habits. Only weird thing was the survey questions asked if I attended church, played video games, watched TV and enjoyed the outdoors. And then they were giving away free bottle openers and pens... I didn't get to ask if they were recycled.

Check out how much this cop is loving his little electric vehicle, he was smiling while he made little circles.

Eco minded Jackpot here! An entire booth dedicated to teaching about biofuels, and what Asheville NC has to provide.

Plus the biofuel "not a concept" car for people to look at- Yay!

The handmade, natural, and organic crafts were abundant. Romantic upcycled clothing, handcrafted soaps with essential oils, sculptures made from scrap metal, handbags with straps made from men's neckties, purses made from cereal boxes, necklaces from bottle caps and paper made from elephant poo! BTW, elephant poo paper has no smell at all.


There was a sampling of booths dedicated to charity & causes , like the "Hats For Humanity" and the "Save the Magnolia Tree".

But then as it seems all festivals can not resist, there are wasteful gigantic air pumped ads like this "Ingles" grocery balloon full of super bad junk food poking out. Sugar, pizza, peanuts and chips! Bleh.

At this point it finally began to get crowded, since I had arrived rather early to beat the expected swarms of people. Yikes, anxiety!

This is what I look like when I feel like there are so many people around that I might throw up, kind of pale and very serious. But check out the pretty wall behind me, and the "blood root" native plant I have in my hand!

Then I saw this happening (pic below)... if you have been to The Oko Box website you have seen some pics with vibrant graffitti in the background - this was that building, and it was torn down to the ground.

But I found these used red cowgirl boots at the second hand store called Madam Butterfly on Lexington Ave ... Yay! I think I will wear them everyday forever. (Btw- the tank dress I am wearing is made of hemp and is by Funk Divine on Etsy.)

Go Asheville, for being mostly green!!!!!

F*@K For Forest: Eco Porn

Porn and charity don't usually mingle when it comes to business, but in an industry that pulls in $12 billion annually it would seem only natural to use it for a greater cause. The creators of the non profit porn site F*$k For Forest stumbled upon this brilliance and made an eco porn site that donates to saving the rainforest. For $15 a month you can "
Watch erotic idealists, showing it all to save our planet. All donations goes to save nature! Real environmentalists revealed for you to see." Many of the erotic idealists look a little on the crunchy side, but their cause is awesome non-the-less and I applaud them for putting themselves out there for some sexy planet savin'. Up to date this has been the only known eco porn site around, but underground news has it there is a new one in development called Organic Smut, which will also be an eco driven porn site that will donate to selected programs that are cleaning up the earth. Way to turn this industry around, one porn charity at a time!
Yay!

Praying Mantis Eating Fly On A Peach

These pictures need no description other then I found this praying mantis on my porch, sitting on half an old peach right as he caught this unsuspecting fly. This amazed me, thus here are a few of my favorite pics (from the 40 gazillion I actually took).

6 Most Popular Oko Box Blog Posts

Here is a re-visit to the top 6 most popular posts here at The Oko Box Blog, these articles kept you coming back for more and more and more.

1. Eco Bridal: Organic Wedding Dress - It's exciting to see that thousands of couples are planning a green wedding!

2. Scam Taking Advantage of Green Businesses - Many nerves were touched here, check out all 77 comments.

3. Plus Size Organic Clothing! - Here is something there is not enough of, but I found a few companies who make sizes up to 4X.

4. Peak Oil: My Issue With The Oil Drum - A fabulous discussion that stirs up many opinions on our future.

5. DIY: Making Natural Non Toxic Dye - this tutorial was featured here and on Crafting A Green World... please share your natural crafting stories.

6. Enamore Organic Lingerie Coming To The Oko Box - Who doesn't love Enamore? And finally she will be at our fingertips!

Design Your Organic Wedding Dress

If you are planning your green wedding and have not yet decided on a dress - you must scoot over to Olivia Luca. I just spent a while playing with their bridal design studio feature which is something like playing with very sophisticated paper dolls. You get to choose your skin tone, the dress bodice and skirt from a wide range of styles. The retro figure gets all dressed up as you make your choices and voila!!! you have created your dreamy eco wedding gown. Once you get to that part you can choose your fabric, where there are eco friendly choices like organic cotton sateen and fair trade silk- and an estimate of the $cost$ is then calculated for you. SAVE it, and make another one- keep all your organic wedding dress designs in your Olivia Luca account and share them with friends and family!

Get A Bike! Ride the Sidewalk?

Recently I sold my Ford Ranger Truck and got a used bike instead. It was the best decision I have ever made... but at first I was a little worried. Not that I would not have a car for transport but that biking in the mountains of Asheville NC would be really difficult, and I would be a spazz on my bike. Which led to my next concern: the fact that bikers are supposed to ride on the road with speeding cars instead of the sidewalk and that the spazzy drivers might hit me. It seems a little unsafe to treat bikes just like vehicles and require them to hug the sides of busy highways next to a virtually empty (safe) sidewalk. So when a guy in the Co-op grocery told me to ride the sidewalks unless I was right in downtown, you best believe I am doing it (see picture)! This gave me a chance to learn how to ride my bike- how to use the gears, brakes, etc without spilling out onto the street in front a behemoth car going 50 mph. Riding a bike is so easy, anyone living in flat cities should fear not & be on a bike- it brings fun back into traveling. And these here hills aren't so bad to get up and down if you learn how to properly use those 10 speeds sitting on the handle bar. CAUTION: riding in thrift store heals is really hard and may lead to ridiculous laughing spells.

Eco Wallpaper

I have always had a love hate relationship with wallpaper - the fear of it going out of style, the toxic glues to get it to stick to your wall for gawd knows how long, and the wasteful nature of all that paper. Wallpaper though is taking a turn for the eco, and with modern & textured flare. The museum worthy textured wallpaper tiles pictured here are made from 100% recycled paper...woo! And since my wallpaper phobia began, there have been long strides in inventing less toxic

glues. Depending on how you place these wallpaper tiles you can create your own work of art by altering the pattern. This I find much more intriguing then the usual 2-D traditional floral wallpaper patterns that look about as good as boogers wiped on the wall (no offense mom). What is totally fabulous too is you can paint your textured wall creation when your done - make sure though you use No VOC paints or make your own milk paint!

DIY: Making Pickles

This year with the severe drought, my cucumber plants haven't made a single cucumber. But I decided to go ahead and make pickles with some juicy organic cukes from the store. Making pickles is really easy and worth the time, no need to be suzy homemaker to pump out yummy pickles. Once you practice with cucumbers you'll be ready to pickle your other veggies too! Pickled carrots, broccoli and cauliflower taste awesome in pasta salads and stir fried with some tofu.
This pickling recipe is adapted from Aveline Kushi's Macrobiotic Cooking book, which is my fav recipe book of all time:::: *1/4-1/2 cup of sea salt ( I used an ume plum, Himalayan salt, and kombu) *
* 2 sprigs of fresh or dried dill *
* 1 onion (quartered) (I used a red onion)*
* 3 lbs. cucumbers*
* 10 cups spring water*:::: Boil the salt in the water for a few minutes, to dissolve the salt. Once the salt water cools off, you can pour it over your cucumber, onion, and dill in your glass jar. It is recommended to place this jar in a cool dark place for 3-4 days with a cheesecloth on top - but I put the jar's screw top back on, and stuck it in the fridge for a few days. The pickles will keep for approximately 1 month in the fridge. Yum! This is so easy to make you will be shocked and will want to pickle everything in your fridge! The cool thing is you can control how salty, tangy, or flavorful your pickles are and cater to your particular health needs. Also feel free to experiment using more herbs, garlic, & different types of onions.

Treehugger: Paper VS Plastic VS Tote

This debate has been discussed so many times it is almost annoying- but here is a realistic look at the hard numbers, impacts and process that goes into manufacturing each kind of shopping bag. Even for me, a long time health nut who has chosen paper, until DUH, I got reusable totes - this article by Treehugger was an eye opener. Check it out here.
Photo: Treehugger

Lucious Upcycle Fashion

Upcycle is about as eco friendly as you can get. I get completely excited when I discover cool upcycle fashion like this be-dazzle dress pictured here, because not only is recreating from the old an artistic endeavour but the results are so unique. It takes a little imagination to take a not cool funked out sweater that would best be suited for dinner on the AARP cruise ship, and turn into a magically sexy tube dress! (Note to AARP members- you would look hot in the dress too!)
Upcycle may not be the choice for those with chemical sensitivities since the fabrics are not natural, and neither are their dyes or prior cleaning care... but for the earth friendly peeps who don't get woozy around synthetics, this is all you!
Check out Etsy for a fun selection of upcycled fashion. Also at The Oko Box take a look at the upcycled denim skirts and sexy upcycled vintage lingerie!

Re-Wear: Eco Friendly Shoe Shopping

Reduce, Reuse, Re-wear! When it comes to having eco friendly shoes I have a nearly 100% thrifted collection. As badly as I would love to brag that I have a snazzy pair of earth huggin' Terra Plana heals, I don't - and it is because it totally rides out of my budget radar. You can find awesome shoes at local thrift stores & the flea market usually for under $5 ... which is far more within reach. The boots pictured here were under $2 and from a charity run thrift. If you super love unique used shoes & don't like the smelly thrift atmosphere for a little higher price ($15 and up) you can search out your dream boots and heals on Etsy or Ebay. But BEWARE! Don't pay too high a price for an old shoe, because many times the soles are beginning to dry rot...or in my case the other day melt off. When I walked downtown in my white thrifted granny heals something started to flap. I looked down to see the entire sole of my left shoe flapping like a wing underfoot! I just about laughed my ass off when the sole popped off entirely and I turned around to see it was 3 feet behind me...laughing even harder when I came upon the sole from the RIGHT shoe which had apparently fell off earlier without me noticing! I trotted the rest of the way home wearing two soleless old shoes and a big silly smile.
Aren't these black pirate boots sexy ?! Yay! I hope the soles stay on ;)

CAGW: Interview With Clare Bare

Clare Bare is one of my favorite eco lingerie designers - she uses vintage, old, outdated, and thrifted fabrics to make hot little retro lingerie...then she lines the undies with organic cotton! Sweet. I did an interview with her about sewing, thrifting, upcycling, and attending Parson's School of Art and Design - Check it out at Crafting A Green World.

PS- new designs from Clare Bare are coming to The Oko Box soon!

Peak Oil: My Issue With The Oil Drum

Peak oil never really peaked my interest much, until my x-partner got completely wrapped up in every book and blog about it. Then he began telling me the gasoline was going to run out any moment now, he began stock piling salt & canned goods, he quit school because his major wouldn't matter after peak oil, then we broke up. Although my interest was slightly peaked by the fear in it, I never really could sit down and read his fav blog The Oil Drum, until recently. After discussing this blog with a close friend I was pretty disgusted with the whole theory and community backing peak oil. I found alot of fatalism, gloom, statistics played out repeatedly only to prove itself over and over. Where was the solution? There seemed to be no interest in renewable energy, technology with non gas vehicles, no advice on how to lead a sustainable life, no tips for organic gardening, and literally gave the feeling that no one counts. On one peak oil blog they went so far as to say buying organic barely mattered, and patronized people who buy organic and drive an SUV. Basically the feeling was each individual does not matter/make a difference (which is the complete opposite of what I feel & have observed to be true.)

Now highschool was a long time ago, and I would say that forming a clique, or community that excludes others as they are trying to learn new ways of living, is well, shitty and immature.
So I left a random comment about the fear mongering and lack of solutions, which other commenters gave a resounding 95 thumbs down! What a tight community- and the author Prof. Goose responded right away, including this dramatic scary analogy:
*

"Let's triage the patient without diagnosing the problem! What would you do if you walked into a hospital near death and was told "Sir, you have blood all over you, here's a band-aid for that itty bitty cut on your forehead." You would likely not recover from your wounds.
If you haven't looked around lately and seen what is going on in the world, that is exactly the approach you are advocating. "
*

Alright dude, thanks for proving my point on the fatalistic horror show attitude.
But to be fair, here is more of the defense of his peak oil fatalism that was retorted:
*

"The general attitude here is clinical and empirical with a graceful touch of concern for humanity thrown in for flavor. It is not condescending: it is educated. It is critical. It is academic. And it is certainly not for everyone.
I take no joy in the success of this site, nor do I take joy in the massive resource inflation we are witnessing--other than that it may be the one thing that could spur alternative fuel and method development. I really want the community writ large to be wrong about all of this. I beg for it every single day, sir. ...

Someone has to talk about it, someone needs to do the hard thinking, and someone needs to worry about the effects, especially on those who have less of a voice in our society--the poor, the indigent, the folks who are going to bear the brunt of this first wave of transition. I can't speak for others, but that's why I do this.
I am in a relatively safe seat to watch all of this go down--at least in the early innings. However, ask those increasingly hungry people in Pakistan how they are feeling right about now about ethanol. Ask the people who won't have heat this winter what they think of the resource premium.
This is a human tragedy already."
*
One commenter dared to go against the grain (16 thumbs down) and kindly agree with me saying this:
*
"Prof: Congrats on a great site. I realize what the first poster said is very unpopular, however I feel he made a good point. TOD[the oil drum] is unlikely to fix the planet-possibly the focus could shift more towards opportunity rather than defeatism. Still a great site-just a minor suggestion, not a criticism."
*
(Notice the commenter assumed I was male, since the community is largely male).
I do believe the gas will run out eventually, because any resource that gets all used up can run out. But do I believe it should be compared to bleeding from the head, chaos, tragedy, and clinically driven guilt... no way! With a community so large at The Oil Drum (some posts have over 350 comments) it's too bad for the doom & gloom since taking a positive approach would effect much more change & education- fear will always paralyze the deer in headlights.
*

I would love to know how you feel about the Peak Oil issue, which has now been coined "the long emergency"? Do you feel panic? Do you feel learning a sustainable lifestyle would help? Or do you think Peak Oil is a crock and we will be inventing things that will take the place of gasoline before it could run out?

Asheville Botanical Gardens Part 2

Last time I went to the Asheville Botanical Gardens it was Spring- going once a season is so cool because every time the place is entirely different. The summer is lush, bugs are everywhere, little fishies are swimming in the creek... and maybe cause of the drought the creek is a wee bit foul smelling. But this butterfly was so worth the trip.

I am not fond of trash in the creek, especially when it's rusting metal. My friend put it in his backpack to dispose of properly.

This rock was obviously carved by the water into this perfect little center stage for posing. I kind of wish I looked like Olivia Newton John in this pic, but there is no resemblance. Darn.

The butterfly made a friend ... :)

Organic & Upcycled Lingerie

There is something about lingerie that is pure being so hot! There was a time many many years ago that I thought Victoria's Secret was the magazine and credit card of my dreams- until I grew up and learned about the deplorable conditions of the workers, and the environmental impact of the mass manufactured synthetic fabrics. My lust for soft and beautiful lingerie never faded, so lucky for us all I am slowly building an earthy friendly lingerie empire @ The Oko Box... ;)

This beautiful brown locally woven organic cotton set is coming to The Oko Box this month, made by designer On The Inside.
For your must have basics Ecoland's 100% organic cotton bra, pantie, and tank tops can't be beat- they are dye free and perfect for those with chemical sensitivities.

Clare Bare makes gorgeous upcycled lingerie from vintage fabrics that are not only adorable but have punk & retro attitude!

(back view of the Clare Bare bloomers!) Vintage Upcycled Fabric with organic cotton liners.

Camisole and pantie set in 100% organic cotton by On The Inside.
Eco luxury lingerie by Enamore coming September 1st 2008 ! Yippee for luscious hotness in organic cotton, soy, silk and hemp!

15% Off Organic Clothing!

Now that the summer warmth is upon us and vacations are a full swing, it's time to get the organic bikini and organic shorts who've been wanting! Use the coupon code "okosummer" to get 15% everything at The Oko Box! If you don't have a vacation planned, make sure to take an at home vacation for yourself- ride your bike, take a creative class, and treat yourself to a special gift. :)

Organic Fabric And Lace

Organic fabric has come a long way in the last few years, from 99% solid colors to a wide range of beautiful printed & woven patterns. If you like to shop for fabric online you are in for a treat! The first amazing resource is Crafting A Green World which keeps a growing tally of every natural fabric store online. Another fabulous find was at Natural Thread , a cute blog by Australian designer Madonna Bain - she sourced some really unbelievable natural fabrics with ornate printed patterns. The organic fabric pictured here is scrap fabric from Spiritex, which is local to Asheville NC - but they serve worldwide. They have been weaving organic fabrics since I was a punky little one in highschool, and have really come a long way in their innovative jersey knits, patterns and tapestry fabrics.

If you are drooling over the organic lace pictured here, you will totally freak out when you look at Near Sea Naturals! I did. And I bought that lace...so much better in the real then it was pictured on their website- this organic lace is gorgeous and lush! It would make great trim on some eco lingerie, or on some fancy arm warmers.

Do you know of any other great organic fabric sources? Please share!

Caterpillar Eating Dill

I didn't know caterpillars would eat herbs, but this little guy has made his whole life based on this one tiny organic dill plant.

He started out much smaller, blackish and spiky - and has transformed into this beauty which I know he will get alot bigger, then cocoon. It's worth the dill sacrifice to watch him live out his life cycles right on my porch.

(Learing to Sew) With Local Organic Cotton Part 3

This is my latest project using locally grown and woven organic cotton from the scrap box at Spiritex (located downtown Asheville NC). But there is something totally different and exciting about this creation, and that is the fabric was originally undyed natural organic cotton (off white) and this is the fabric I made my own natural non toxic dye for! The bottom portion of the sundress was dyed with plum skins from the fermenting plums on the ground under my landlady's tree. The top panels are textured organic cotton and were dyed with a mixture of grass, onion skins, and the left over plum dye making a dusty barely there pink. I love it! I made up the sewing pattern based on a few organic summer dresses I had seen and loved, in attempts to make my very own. I think this dress would look hot in a bright red! The total cost of the project was under $5... now that is saving some green!

Feel Good Style Interview

Check out the snazzy interview with Lucille of Feel Good Style and me of The Oko Box!

Here is what Feel Good Style is all about: Style is and has always been a reflection of our dreams, imagination, and aspirations for our selves and our world. In a time of growing consciousness about how our choices literally do change the world, style is more important than ever. Because ultimately, it is not simply awareness and concern that matters - it is our inspiration and our willingness to embrace intriguing new ways of caring, living, and being that will create our future. Feelgood Style is about sharing that inspiration and dreaming with joy about that future.
Contact: feelgoodstyle (at) greenoptions (dot) com

Menstrual Blood As Fertilizer?

Warning: This idea may cause you to turn up your nose and call me a dirty hippy. Hit me with your best shot!
If you are one of the many women switching to natural menstrual solutions you probably are quickly learning to make friends with your blood. You know, rather then run from it screamin' like a 5th grade boy like society teaches. So what I am about to propose may still sound a little on the crunchy side, but well, if I recall correctly I did actually learn this trick from a seasoned hippy lady named "Rah". Rah told me a story about tribal women who used to have their periods in a tent together bleeding on moss, and were considered prophets during that time. I have no idea if this is true and I don't want to bleed in a tent full of prophetic women on their rag -but what she mentioned next really stuck with me "you could use the blood on plants rather then flushing it down the drain." Honestly the super DIY gardener in me was like *wowsers* and I decided to give it a try. Now this is not for those of you who use disposable sanitary products, but for those grrrls who use the Diva Cup and Glad Rags- you can easily test this fertile hypothesis. Many natural fertilizers are made from bone meal and decay, and your period is a great source for similar nutrients. I have used this method on occasion with my house plants and I swear that is why they stay super healthy and continue to grow without any other fertilizer or change of dirt. When I stopped adding this to my plants, they didn't grow as well. So, would you try this on your house plants? Have you already done this before?

DIY: Housing Built with Pallets

Now here is a piece of pure DIY inspiration! I so need a piece of land right now! I found this beautiful idea via Green Upgrader , where you must go see all the pics and story behind these structures. The affordability, the innovative possibilities, and the probable ease of building a structure with pallets is completely amazing...and once your done you can paint it with your own homemade Milk Paint! For more info go here.

10 Eco UnFriendly Professions

1. Monster Truck Driving Professional: Monster truck driving is considered an entertaining sport just like professional wrestling, except that this job uses tons of resources, fuel, smashes buses and cars, & fills up the rally ring with dirt that becomes polluted with burning tires, exhaust and gasoline. Then the whole mess has to be cleaned up. This profession racks up on the waste facter and gets two eco thumbs down.

2. Airplane & Car Leather Seat Manufacturer: Leather is notriously bad bad bad! It not only uses a hazardous chemical cocktail to tan the skin, but these chemicals are dumped into rivers & ground soil while also harming the health of underpaid workers in poor regions of the world. Plus if those chems are not enough the plane you travel in is dowsed in fire redardents in case of a crash. (Jet lag isn't only from flying!) The use of leather on planes and cars is just for fluff, first class fun for the rich & spoiled, and is a completely wasteful use of the material.

3. Cruise Ship (most jobs accossiated with): While a relaxing cruise might be nice, the concept of sailing around in a ship equipped with pools, fine dining, non stop parties and has a whole medical team like it's an inhabited island has got to creat some serious waste. Check these stats out -> "To put it in perspective, the fleet of U.S. flagged ships sailing interisland Hawaiian cruises (spending 96 hours of the week idle in port) run a price tag of nearly $250,000 a week to fuel each vessel, lifeboats and tender boats. These ships range from about 70,000 tons - 93.000 tons. " The gross amount of fuel used by cruise ships, and the idling factor are eco gag-able.


4. Factory Farm Owner: Finally this profession is being uncovered for what it is- wasteful, abusive, polluting and unethical. Factory farming not only raises questions of ethical treatment with animal rights activists, but also the wide spread use of antibiotics in these animals has raised worried eyebrows to the effects on human health. Keeping animals confined to tiny areas where they have no room to move creates serious illness, the unsanitary conditions on top of that make a breeding house for bacteria. These factory farms use artificial methods to force the animals to produce their product faster and faster to meet demand and make a higher profit. This is why they also over use medications which are now in our food, and in our bodies causing health problems more wide spread then has even been discovered. This job is so dirty they might be going to eco hell!

5. Styrofoam Peanut Manufacturer: Someone at one time thought this was a good idea. Then these little peanuts didn't biodegrade, have some kind of static cling to everything, killed a piece of our ozone, became every eco friendly person's nightmare, and gave my cat diarrhea when she ate it. And it's till being made!? The people who are manufacturing this stuff need to get with the corn/potato/food starch peanut program and stop this madness.

6. The President: While this profession could be used for the eco good of mankind, in the last 8 years (and many other times in history) it has been used as one of the most powerful forces of destruction on earth. This job more then any other could effect the greatest change, but the current president has earned this position as an eco disaster job with not only supporting big oil, but also reeking havoc by declaring war on everything. War is always an environmental problem- you know with all that bombing, burning, stealing and destruction of land & native culture. The amounts of wasted money he put into ridiculous programs such as the abstinence only program that replaced sex education- causing a 3% rise in teen pregnancy, adding to our overpopulation problem. Should I go on?

7. Atomic Bomb Engineer(and friends): This is a job of pure destruction, although I am certain it is created out of fear that someone will destroy us so we must destroy them first. There is no way around it though, if you are the engineer of weapons of mass destruction, well - that is just really super un-eco. This profession is created with the sole purpose to blow apart and annihilate huge amounts of ground and everything on it. Bombs vaporize trees, homes, people and anything in it's path.

8. Astronaut: You may not like this because going into space is so very interesting, exciting and it's where E.T is from... but that's all it is. The building, fueling, preparing and launching of Rockets into space is a high energy consuming endeavour. While I am one who is enthralled by the evidence they find in space, it is actually a job based solely on our curiosity. When they crash, they also leave a scary mess behind that scatters questionable substances far and wide.








9. Golf Course Developer: Golfing may be a fun sport to many (like the super un-eco Mr. Tiger Woods), but golf courses themselves are notoriously built on top of undeveloped parcels of land which were home to many native plants, trees and creatures. These life forms are needed to keep a delicate ecological balance, and when a golf course is built these areas are made into a artificial, chemical sprayed, non native plant, only for the wealthy human 'oasis'. The amount of gasoline & chemical fertilizers used to maintain the huge open grassy areas is completely frivolous. The developers who fund these types of projects are obviously under an evil spell cast by the money gods, since there is nothing to gain except green in the bank.

10. Rainforest Logging: At this point with all the talk about the rainforest being so public I can't believe corporations get away with this BS still, but here is a job causing horrible things to happen to the air we breathe plus eliminating many natural plants and possibly medicines never to be seen again. "Experts estimates that we are losing 137 plant, animal and insect species every single day due to rainforest deforestation. That equates to 50,000 species a year. As the rainforest species disappear, so do many possible cures for life-threatening diseases. Currently, 121 prescription drugs sold worldwide come from plant-derived sources. While 25% of Western pharmaceuticals are derived from rainforest ingredients, less that 1% of these tropical trees and plants have been tested by scientists. " And what puts the gross icing on the shitty job cake is shit tons of fuel used to chainsaw, bulldoze, & haul the trees - all the while putting fumes in the air that the very trees they are cutting down are made to clean up. Big corporations lure in native workers and give them money to do the dirty logging work, take all the profits and leave the native land of those people in ruins, raping them of any future or resources.

FREE Green House Plans

Ever dreamed of building an environmentally friendly house but started feeling icky at the thought of paying a fancy architect a load of money to design it for you? For those who love conventional to modern design there are now FREE green house plans that you can download right to your computer! Take a virtual tour of each, choose the one you love and fits your personal needs- voila! You have your blue print, now all you need is a plot of land. Square footage runs from 1,000-3,000 Sq ft in small boxy styles to the California villa.
This kind of service is exactly what we need to help spearhead eco building practices into the mainstream. Free is not something usually associated with building green, but thanks to FreeGreen that myth is busted! May many more companies follow their lead in providing free public services that keep our planet healthy.

Via: Low Impact Living

DIY: Making Natural Non Toxic Dye

This week I have been spending a good deal of time in the kitchen, cooking up natural dyes. I am actually surprised that after 7 years of art in college I had never learned to make paints, toxic or non toxic. But after reading an awesome post on Crafting a Green World about how to make your own milk paint, I got to thinking even deeper into how to make pigments since the colored pigment can be as toxic as the binder. What I found out was a creative revelation that I can not stop cooking up! My personal criteria for creating pigment/dye is this:
* It can not be toxic in any way, even if the substance is natural.
* It has to be in abundance and easily gathered in nature (don't ever take so much that the plant can't survive or make seeds.)
I totally hit the jack pot when I walked outside to find that my landlady next door has a plum tree with a gazillion plums that had already fallen to the ground and were being eaten by bugs, rotting, fermenting, gushy ect......
My dye experiment begins....

I began by skinning the plums and using only the dark burgundy red skins - I left the fruit for the wild critters, and kept the seeds and planted them - in hopes to grow some of my own plum trees.

The supplies you'll need to make your own fabric dye are as follows: water (filtered or spring is best) salt or vinegar, spare pot not used for cooking, something to measure with if you like to get things exact.

I used salt as a dye fixative, since I was using fruit, but if you are making your dye from flowers, leaves, plants etc - then it is suggested to use vinegar.

The recipe I found was SALT: 1/2 CUP SALT TO 8 CUPS COLD WATER, VINEGAR: 4 PARTS COLD WATER TO 1 PART VINEGAR.

I simmered my fabric in the salt fixative for approx. 1 hour, then rinsed and rung out - before putting the fabric in the dye.

Once the fabric had the fix in it, I went ahead and dumped the plum skins in some fresh water and simmered those for a while. It was so amazing how red and beautiful the water turned right away...

I strained out the skins and returned the dye to the pot and then start dipping the locally woven organic cotton into the plum dye! How freakin' awesome, cause it started turning almost hot pink right away and stuck right to the fabric.Then I let the fabric simmer lightly in the dye for a richer color for about an hour, all steamy, hot and sooooo pretty!

I allowed the fabric to sit in the dye overnight to make sure it had the darkest outcome possible since when it is rinsed and dried the color will be alot lighter.

I hung it to dry in the sun, until the rain came and I moved it to this window....

Isn't it pretty in pink? All that from a couple discarded plums! Yay! It's really easier then it looks and the whole process was so relaxing and fun. There are fantastic lists of natural stuff you can use for dye in just about every cool shade of color you can imagine. Go to http://www.pioneerthinking.com/ for a complete list of plants, berries, nuts and bark that can make a rainbow of fun, safe colors. Plus get more detailed instructions-a simple google search for "make your own natural dye" turns up tons of recipes for a wide variety of colors.

Baby Spiders

Aren't these guys too cute? I found them on one of my sunflowers, which was looking all wilty and weird all of a sudden. On closer examination it was a newborn litter of spiders! So now we have baby robins, kittens, preying mantis and spiders all in the yard...
At least it's not like last summer when I came home to hundreds of black widow spider babies hanging off my door in one thumb sized blob! Yikes!

Today Is Ironic

Sometimes I feel like I am made up of a generation of people who love irony. I mean really love irony - love to wear t-shirts about it, laugh at it, create it, throw parties about it...
Today I felt part of this ironic movement into irony - everything I saw downtown seemed to spill over into this category of life.
1. I walked past a garbage can where someone had spray painted in yellow "Meat Lives". That is certainly some sort of oxymoron, ironic BS, or possibly the philosophy of some really high person with a spray paint can. I could be wrong but I am pretty certain meat is always dead, and before that it is an animal and at that point "lives".
2. I then was walking across a cross walk, when a very impatient unfriendly lady nearly plowed right into me - wearing a shirt that said "KINDNESS" across it. he he.
3. Coming back across the same crosswalk later a guy at the other side of the street was checking me out - I mean head turned around while still walking & blatant staring, while holding his girlfriend's hand very tightly. ( This particular irony happens quite often.)

Do you notice the little ironies of life while walking, biking, riding the subway, or other times when you have plenty time to see what happening around you?

Pollution Is A 'Sin': The Pope & Green Bible

Back in March 2008 Pope Benedict XVI decided there were a few new 'sins' that needed to be urgently addressed due to modern times a changin'. One big shocker was that he declared pollution a sin! The reason I am shocked is because I went to Catholic school for 12 years, at which time I was completely pro active about saving the planet and got nothing but riducule and teasing, including from local priests, teachers, and students (aka-the community). I recently read various debates about whether declaring pollution a sin would force any ripple in the Christain world, which is notoriously thought of as environmently unfriendly. This led me to imagine children teasing each other on the playground -> if one kid didn't put the recycle in the right bin the other kids could tell them they were going to hell.
I kid not though- the ripple has begun...I just got word of the new GREEN BIBLE from earth first. This bible sets out to show where the good word tells us exactly how to care for the earth by being an environmental steward and not a destroyer. It contests the whole attitude that the Christian God handed us the earth to use up as we please, and points out passages from the bible that say God directly asked Adam to care for his garden of Eden - not rape it of every resource for your pleasure and shrug it off till the rapture comes. Amen!
From Business Week:
This fall The Green Bible will be published, complete with cotton/linen cover, partly recycled paper, soy-based ink, and passages about caring for the earth highlighted in green. The $29.95 edition of the Good Book also includes essays and a study guide about the spiritual mandate to protect the environment. Hoping to sell 25,000 to 30,000 copies a year, he plans to market The Green Bible to eco-aware churches and influential thinkers. Essay contributor Calvin B. DeWitt, a University of Wisconsin environmental professor and an evangelical Christian, says the Bible is “a kind of ecological handbook for right living on Earth.”

Photo: Business Week

Organic Jewelry

Yay! There's some new organic cotton cord necklaces up at The Oko Box. Each one is handmade (by me) using natural gemstone, shell or glass and sits on a cord made from leftover organic cotton fabric, that is locally grown and woven here in Asheville NC. The pendents come in all sorts of sizes, from the large stone pictured here to smaller light weight stones- each one has it's own personality and expressive color.
My favorite part is you can tie the cord in the back to be any length you desire - one day a choker, next day swinging down by your belly :) , that way you can move with the fashion groove without becoming outdated. Plus the prices range from $ 16.50 -20.00... that is so affordable!

Nature Is The Reason

This happy little mama is nesting in a tree right outside my neighbor's window. How amazing when your window is as high as a tree and you have a birds eye view of the birds - little babies being born, peaking their funny heads up, opening their beaks for worms...or a preying mantis like we watched yesterday. It's baby creature week here at my house! Baby kittens, baby robins, and even bunches of the baby preying mantis all starting their new lives right downtown Asheville NC via my yard.
The ecological balance between all creatures, including ourselves is the reason for the whole green movement. Every single living thing, connected to the other, in a delicate and ever changing motion. It's very simple things like this, that are the reason I eat organic & local foods, donate to wildlife groups, learn about native gardening, walk a light footstep, wear sustainable clothes, and recycle. We can never fully grasp the complete dependency and cycle of life from earth's core to an apple core- except to know that without it's treasures we cannot survive.
I Heart Nature!

Learning To Sew: Local Organic Cotton Part 2

This is my second project using locally woven organic cotton I bought from Spiritex, an Asheville organic clothing & fabric store. This was actually scrap fabric too, which I purchased for around $2, it was rolled into a little black ball of organic cottony goodness. I won't claim the design as my own, the reason this skirt is especially adorable (besides that my wrinkly bug bite covered knees are accenting the piece) is because I used the coolest book ever to get the idea! Generation T 108 Ways To Transform a T-shirt is the freaking greatest book for beginning and advanced crafters- the projects are totally easy and some of them blew my mind. The finale' project is a wedding dress made entirely of white t-shirts! The book came out a while back, long enough that I am certain every crafty New Yorker has seen it - but I had never laid eyes on such innovation. Love it! This sexy skirt is my very first project I tried from the book, and although it said to make one straight tube I had to actually make a bit of a triangle shape to get it right. The satin ribbons are even organic! Yippee! <3

June Bug?!

I have only seen this wildly green beetle since living in the smokey mountains, the first time being 6 years ago in a cemetery by the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have heard people call them "june bugs" although the june bugs I experienced growing up in New Orleans were tiny and all brown (but in New Orleans everything is different "roley poley bugs" are called "doodle bugs".) I wanted to share this big guy with ya'll, pictured here crawling on my neighbor Heather's hand- and ask this:
Are they native to North Carolina?
I heart this bug!

Factory Green

Just wanted to give a quick little nod to Factory Green's hysterical "WTF?" Tee! (Nod & smile) ... Factory Green is an eco minded online shop that is geared towards the college crowd and run by two college guys who were inspired by the way Europeans didn't just talk about environmental issues, but lived out solutions. Sigh, yes - my BFF since the 6th grade moved to Germany over half a decade ago and has talked about nothing but brilliant solutions to just about every problem in effect there. From organic groceries being delivered for insanely great prices, orange flavored yogurt, and even a baby drop box at hospitals (you know to keep people from dumping babies in dumpsters like some highschoolers do round' the USA.) I know, WTF? :) I digressed majorly from the love of this t-shirt.

Enamore Organic Lingerie Coming To The Oko Box

Enamore has to be my absolute favorite eco lingerie designer ever to exist, hands down. I own two lingerie sets by Enamore and they are my most treasured, loved, and favorite planet powered purchase - plus the quality and design are so fantastic, it made it worth every penny. This is the kind of eco lux lingerie you dream of your lover getting you, but if they wait too long you'll be buying some for yourself instead (like I did) because it's too hard to resist.
So here's the super dee duper good news that has had me bursting all week: Enamore's eco luscious lingerie is going to be available at The Oko Box starting September 1st 2008!!! This may seem like an early announcement but this is the perfect amount of time to start saving up either for yourself or someone you love- there will be vibrant pieces this fall & winter with plenty delicious reds, sultry blacks, flirty whites, and sexy patterns for holidays, anniversaries, your wedding night & honeymoon. Or make this gorgeous organic lingerie an excuse to turn an ordinary night into your own private celebration!
Here's some background info about eco desginer Jenny of Enamore (whom I heart!):

"Enamore is an Eco fashion label creating garments made from the finest organic and sustainable fabrics including hemp, cotton, bamboo, soya and silk sourced from accredited suppliers. Enamore supports local manufacturing and all current ranges are designed and produced in Bath, Wales and London. Enamore began in the seaside city of Brighton, UK during 2004 founded by Jenny Ambrose. The brand was born out of the designer’s love for vintage sewing patterns and charismatic floral prints. Jenny’s vision was to create beautiful, playful and quirky garments from organic fabrics and vintage materials, after discovering the damaging effects of fashion industry to our environment. The collection has now evolved beyond expectation offering a diverse collection of organic lingerie with a new twist on the modern Pin Up. Jenny is also involved in projects such as BBC Blast and the ‘Make Your Mark in Fashion’ competition to inspire young people to think about where their clothing comes from and to consider future careers in sustainable design. Enamore has been featured on BBC2’s ‘Working Lunch’, ITV’s ‘This Morning’ and ‘LK Today’ as well as editorial and product features in The Observer, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Domino, Marie Claire and many more respected publications." Buy Enamore At The Oko Box This September 1st 2008!!!

Getting Crafty With Cardboard

I have to confess, I am more crafty then fashionable when it comes to decorating my workspace, I love to use all kinds of materials lying around to make the supplies I need. This week as sales increased and I learned how to use the USPS click-ship method of delivery some things around my "office" needed to change. Particularly I needed some paper holding boxes to organize orders as they went through the process of being packaged, weighed, labeled and shipped.
This is how to make my Easy Paper Organizer Box out of recycled cardboard, fabric scraps, and a box cutter/exacto knife:

Using a piece of paper the size I needed for the organizer, I measured the bottom holder. Then measured two long sides and two short sides to put the box together.

Then I poked holes in bottom/middle portion of each edge for the side panels and a hole in each corner of the bottom of the organizer. If you find this too tedious, get your cat to do it for you - like i did in the picture below ;)

Take a safety pin and use it to pull the fabric scraps through the holes of the side panels and tie them together. Then using one of those same holes and the holes on the bottom of the organizer, pull the fabric scraps through and tie together too.Awesome! When you are done you'll have a super crafty, cute and FREE organizer for your paperwork...Yay! I super love mine, because i made them myself and didn't pay a penny for them.
PS- What I am going to try and make next is an entire desk out of cardboard!!!

Newborn Moth or Deformed Moth?

Today my kitty "Toots" found this moth and brought it right up to me, luckily holding it only by it's legs from her teeth. I immediately could tell it was a moth but when she dropped it in my hands it had tiny little wings impossible to fly with. Within 3 minutes it looked as though those wings were getting bigger (or my imagination was) which lead me to believe this moth was newly born, did seem damp bodied, and was having a terrible stressful start to life. It's so huge and beautiful (and hopefully not deformed), is there an entomologist out there who can identify this American Moth - I know it is common over here on the eastern side of the US. (I don't have my butterfly & moth identification books anymore...and right now I wish I did)!

Aside from satisfying my inner scientist... isn't he/she so perty?

White Apricot's 10 Sexiest Eco Friendly Summer Sandals

Do you have a shoe fetish to be rivaled with Mariah Carey's collection? Me neither. But I know a beautiful shoe when I see one and this weeks top 10 list from White Apricot has a kitchy parade of sandals to lust after. Just the word "sandal" made me think of ugly smelly shoes from k-mart, but these are all 100% eco minded or 100% vegan and are built to last. To fairly warn you though, these gorgeous sandals are quite the investment ($$$), so good thing many of the designs are quirky yet timeless.
NOTE TO SUPER WEALTHY PEOPLE: Why keep walking around in shoes made with crap materials, put together by little children who don't give a shit about your accessories or life because they just want the 4 cents they worked their butt off for, and supports a company which rapes everyone in their wake of a fair price including YOU. You wouldn't want that shitty made heal to break right off your shoe when you step out the plane in Italy for your lunch date with your best friend? Use your dollars as charitable donations that pay both ways.
Go to White Apricot for help :)