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 :)