Green and inspiring

I’ve been writing some weeks ago about my researches to find the best of green clothing for kids. Here are some newly found items among the cutest and most inspiring ones, some i wish could also be wore by adults!

The items which can be bought on Etsy are created with love and care by 2 obviously talented stay-at-home-moms :

Damestarbaby are created by two stay-at-home moms who miraculously find time to sew and knit and dream up ever more stylish kid’s clothes. Our shirts feature original paintings and appliques. The printing was done with earth-loving inks in a solar-powered facility where the workers carpool in a veggie-oil van. The applique-ing is all done by hand using vintage and recycled fabrics. All of our designs were created with the sensibility of two mothers, so they’re not only cute and conscientious, but comfortable and durable and easy for little hands to put on and take off.

Look stylish, even with a running nose

L’Herbier: soins corporels bio et équitables

Plongeons-nous un peu plus dans les petits soins – connaissez-vous l’Herbier?

« Les Soins Corporels l’Herbier offrent des produits de grande qualité, faits à la main au coeur du village de Mont-Saint-Grégoire en Montérégie. Cette entreprise québécoise opte pour des méthodes artisanales en utilisant des matières premières naturelles, biologiques, équitables et biodégradables dans le respect de la nature, de l’environnement et du corps humain.

Les Soins Corporels l’Herbier collaborent avec les producteurs locaux et les travailleurs de petites coopératives qui fournissent des actifs végétaux exempts de produits chimiques nuisibles (pesticides, herbicides, colorants artificiels, etc.). L’ensemble de ces démarches poursuit un but précis : favoriser le bien-être de tous et chacun tout en maintenant un rapport harmonieux avec la nature, dans une logique de développement durable. »

Je vous propose de débuter vos achats avec la Crème pour le corps à l’érable – miam, un délice qui peut très bien servir de crème à main. Leur liste de produits est disponible en ligne.

Nous pourrons plus tard cet été vous donner plus de détails lors de notre visite sur place

Guide to Greener Electronics

Since August 2006, Greenpeace is releasing a “Guide to Greener Electronics” where they are looking at various hardware manufacturers and their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.

Our ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’ aims to clean up the electronics sector and get manufacturers to take responsibility for the full life cycle of their products, including the electronic waste that their products generate. The guide does not rank companies on labour standards, energy use or any other issues, but recognises that these are important in the production and use of electronics products.

If you look at the chart of companies shown above, you will notice that Apple – for example – is not that “green” when it comes to recycling components and usage of toxic chemicals with their products (only ranking 6 out of 10). Of course, the latest report (which is from December 2007) does not include the new MacBook Air. And the detailed report says that Apple is trying hard to produce more eco-friendly hardware. Just have a look at the detailed report (pdf file).

On the other hand I did not expect that Sony Ericsson, Sony, Dell, Lenovo (former IBM) and Samsung are the current leaders in that chart. I think that could be their strategy to catch up with Apple’s position as an innovation leader. Although I would love to see Apple to combine both, environmental friendly hardware as well as cutting-edge innovation and design! I am looking forward to the next report released by Greenpeace, including the new Apple products.

Take a detail look at the current report (from December 2007 and links to all detailed reports as pdf files) here.

Previous versions of the guide are available online as well: August 2006, December 2006, April 2007, June 2007 and September 2007.

La banane équitable

Pour en finir avec les sacs de plastiques

Green Clothing

I’ve been digging into baby-wear, this to find the nicest outfits for little Emilie and her brother Leo. Surprisingly, i have found a great diversity of online shop selling only the best of organic clothing, Organic and sustainable materials in socially-conscious practices as they call it, this for kids, and while i was at it, maybe some goodies for the grown ups we are.

Before starting to browse the links and get into shopping frenzy, here is a list of what could be an harmonious way to consume ethically *and conciously*, so maybe keep these in mind next time you’ll shop :

Rule #1 – try to keep our consumption to a minimum
Rule #2 – shop for organic products
Rule #3 – shop for product created in a socially conscious way (no exploitation of individuals, of the environment and animals)
Rule #4 – shop for local goods, to reduce the amount of energy needed for the product to be sold
Rule #5 – shop for high quality products, so to reduce the amount you have to buy and trash each year
Rule #6 – make sure the product can have a second life, thus that it can be easily recycled.

Ok, so here we go. Here’s a selection of Organic Clothing shop to start from. Let me know if there is something you think is missing, this way i can make my listing of green shops grow.

Shops i bought from:

• Kate Quinn Organics: by far the most interesting for kids clothes! I’m really looking forward for their Women’s clothing collection!
• Faeries Dance: Great, personal customer service over email, and the clothes i received where wonderfull (organic underwear, bra and pajama from Blue Canoe and Bgreen Apparel, read about them bellow). The website is nothing so appealing, but they have a great selection of plain organic underwear at really good prices.
• Dear lil Devas (Canada based): great customer service, and lovely bamboo yoga pants
• Bluecanoe: Mine where received from Faeries dance. Not so my style, but still a wide selection of women clothes.
• Bgreen apparel: Bought from Faeries Dance, a little sad they dont directly sell online – their women pajama is great!
• Essere Organics (Canada based): i bought the greatest organic flannel bed-sheets ever. Lovely customer service here also.

Shops i did not bought from:

• Speesees: really nice kids wear designs (but slow website)
• nat & helens: clothes, toys and bedding stuff
• Cultivate Kids: some of the sweetest quotes on kids wear, ‘Cultivate my curiosity‘, ‘Cultivate my creativity’ and so on – maybe a little too new age for you, but i love it!
• Ohgeezorganic: a reduce but really sweet selection of kids-wear
• Bohmo: a good selection of baby clothes, home decoration, clothes for women and men
• Maggie’s functional Organics: a reduced but fairly good selection of organic clothing for men, women and kids – and a relatively easy website to navigate on, cheap prices
• Jonano Organic clothing: women and kids clothes
• Kasper Organics: a great selection of bath sheet, matt, wash clothes, socks, tights, handkerchiefs, napkins and so on
• Peta’s Shopping guide to compassionate shopping: a great place to start for green and non animal clothing

Canada and Quebec stores (most do not sell online right now):

• Etiquette.ca : the responisible consumer network, has a lot of ressources
• OOM : men and women’s wear in Montreal, they have a little online shop
• Rien à cacher : carries hip urban fashion items that are made in worker-friendly and eco-friendly conditions
• Grace Cello has a fairly good selection of women clothes

This was a quick selection – if you did not found your style in these links, please ask google for ‘Organic clothing‘ and follow the links, there is now a really interesting amount of clothing style available in organic clothing.

Why buying Organic cotton? Here are some infos on the topics, dig on your own for an extensive research. Source: Natandhelens.com

What is organic cotton?
Organic cotton is grown using methods and materials that have a low impact on the environment. Organic production systems replenish and maintain soil fertility, reduce the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers, and build biologically diverse agriculture. Third-party certification organizations verify that organic producers use only methods and materials allowed in organic production. (OTA)

Why should I choose organic products?
It’s better for the environment:

• Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.). (Allan Woodburn)
• It takes roughly one-third of a pound of chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) to grow enough cotton for just one T-shirt. (Sustainable Cotton Project)
• In 1995, pesticide-contaminated runoff from cotton fields in Alabama killed 240,000 fish. (Organic Consumers Assoc)
• It is estimated that pesticides unintentionally kill 67 million birds each year. (Organic consumers Assoc)

It’s better for your health:
The Environmental Protection Agency considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in 2000 in the United States as “possible,” “likely,” “probable,” or “known” human carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and trifluralin). (EPA) According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 20,000 deaths occur in developing countries each year from pesticide poisoning, many of these are attributed to cotton production.

Once cotton has been harvested it needs to go through a series of processes including washing, bleaching, dyeing and printing to turn it into a T-shirt, towel or duvet cover. At least 8,000 chemicals are used in these processes – many of which are classified by the WHO as ‘moderately hazardous’ to ‘acutely hazardous’. (Soil Association)