{ ecover / seventh generation }

So today's post will be about, ahem, cleaning products. Yawn, snore! you may be thinking as your head hits the keyboard, but just ahead there are some juicy tidbits about Angie + Brad {okay, I made that up, but seriously, these products are going to make you feel really gooood}.

I love to clean; I mean I really love to clean. I find it calming + downright therapeutic. I know there are others out there like me because I recently read it on a fellow greenie's blog. Maybe we should start our own club.

Before I greened my cleaning routine, I used to get headaches, sinus congestion + a sore throat when I spritzed + sprayed. No fun. And the eczema I once had? I had no idea it was related to the ingredients in my detergents + household cleaners.

The following companies are committed to products that are non-toxic, biodegradable, petroleum-free, free of phosphates, and they use safe surfactants that do not mimic human hormones. They are also free of Formaldehyde + Dioxane, a known carcinogen.

{fun facts}
1. ecover has a very fine blog. bonus points for a lovely interview with Michael d'Estries of ecorazzi {he's alright in my book}. Elizabeth Cline has been a guest-blogger {two thumbs up!}.

2. seventh generation's catalog of plant-based products includes baby diapers, laundry detergent, dish soap + tampons. have cute pics of your small fries? join their campaign for a toxin-free generation + upload a pic of your cutie-pie + they'll donate $1 to Women's Voices for the Earth.

3. eco nuts are packed in a box with no plastic. they provide a handy comparison chart that shows how their little golden nuggets stack up against the big guys. psst, if you have sensitive skin that breaks out easily like mine, this is just what the doctor ordered. oh, and don't be surprised by the color of the nuts; your clothes will still be clean as a whistle.

4. ecos they actually made a movie that chronicles the life of founder Van Vlahakis who immigrated to the US in the 1950's with little more than $20 and built a multi-million dollar business at a time when green products were indeed the road less traveled {so there is a little slice of Hollywood for you after all}. and yes, I may have gotten teary-eyed during the preview. btw, I called over to ecos once to ask a question about the fragrances used + the sweetest woman patiently answered my questions. if ever I'm having a bad day, I may just have to call to chat with her.

Click right on over for a nice list of animal-friendly products here, and you can hop on over to Organic Consumers Association for a list of safe products here. More tips for a super safe spring cleaning right here at your fingertips.

 {eco nuts / ecos }

{Eco Blogger of the Week} With Light + Love, Angela Lindvall

I was first introduced to Angela Lindvall, the actress, supermodel + environmentalist, when I watched Project Runway All Stars. She was hosting the show, and I can remember turning to my roommate and saying {perhaps not in this order}, "She exudes warmth. Where's Heidi?"

I later bumped into her on the cover of Natural Health magazine, and this piqued my interest {somehow I missed her on the covers of Vogue, Elle, Allure, Marie Claire - excuse me while I dust myself off, the rock I've been living under was a bit sooty}. After a bit of noodling around the web, I happened upon Angela's blog and staring me straight in the face was this quote from Shakespeare:
  

April hath put a spirit of youth in everything. (Sonnet XCVIII)

Did I mention I love quotes? So if you're dishing out servings of those, well, you'd better believe I'll be first in line. But I digress. The more I read Angela's posts, the more I wanted to read. Her green-mindfulness, her promotion of organic farming + local agriculture, and her efforts to put pressure on the manufacturing end of the global fashion industry to improve textile manufacturing + remove waste are just a few of the reasons Angela inspires.

to put pressure on the manufacturing end of the global fashion industry to improve textile manufacturing and reduce waste. - See more at: http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/green-living/model-change#sthash.hJ1uBxXB.dpuf

Angela's posts are filled with hope + joy, words to nurture the spirit, and information to reduce your carbon footprint {plus, she understands the healing powers + therapeutic benefits of a bath}. I feel happier for having read her blog and grateful that she has taken the time to use her influence to stimulate awareness. Take a peek at these pics of her home on 7 acres of gorgeous land in LA, then head on over to her site for a dose of positive. 

{a few tips for healthy living from Angela via Natural Health Magazine}
1. Embrace Life: I really focus on the presence of a new day and have gratitude for being alive.

2. Pay Attention: Happiness and magic exist all around us. It’s really about whether we choose to tune into those positive experiences or not.
 

3. Take Time to Unwind: For me, lighting a fire and putting on classical music is a great way to relax.
 

4. Join in Community: I’ve opened my home to share the space. My neighbors come here at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesdays to do a personal practice of kundalini yoga and chanting.

5. Meditate: When I travel, meditation is so helpful because you can take it with you everywhere.  

{image by Mel Blanchard}

live on 7 acres in Los Angeles,

I’m obsessed with organic farming and local agriculture and eating in season. - See more at: http://www.naturalhealthmag.com/green-living/model-change#sthash.hJ1uBxXB.dpuf

If you're in the area, eco boys + girls, there's a fun-filled event this weekend. Tree huggers + fashion lovers unite at Navy Pier this Saturday, 10am-6pm + Sunday, 11am-5pm. From our friends at Green Festival:

Green Festival returns to Chicago's Navy Pier this May 18-19! The festival will feature favorites, including the organic, vegetarian and vegan food court; the Sierra Club Green Cinema; eco-fashion exhibits; hands-on DIY workshops; live music; an organic beer and wine garden; a nationally renowned Green Marketplace featuring products and services from local and national green and sustainable businesses and organizations.

Wait, wait! There's more: a roster of rich and inspiring keynote presentations, workshops, demonstrations, fashion shows*, musical performances and interactive fun. Enjoy a weekend packed with local, national and internationally acclaimed social and environmental authors, leaders, experts, advocates, celebrities and cultural icons. 

Eat, shop, listen, learn, network and dance the weekend away as you connect with your community at Chicago Green Festival. Prices + tickets here.

*Did you catch that? Fashion shows, my green friends. I italicized that so your little peepers would snag on the style bit of this whole shindig. Are you ready? I'll see you there!

{ oh mabel }

Recently, I was out with a friend who is working overtime to green her diet, closet, beauty routine + home. She asked what I was doing to create an eco-friendly environ at home, and it prompted me to forgo my usual style posts to put together this week's clean + green home posts - all designed to help you replace products containing harmful toxins {seemingly benign everyday household items like bedding + commercial cleaning supplies} with healthy products filled with safe ingredients.

Today, we're putting fresh sheets on our beds with oh mabel's line of 100% GOTS-certified, organic bedding manufactured using environmental and social standards. oh mabel ensures that dyes used for printing are low-impact and fibre reactive. The linens are designed in Australia and manufactured in India by a family-oriented, women-operated enterprise. 

oh mabel's producers operate using Fair Labor standards such as SA8000 which defines acceptable work practices and minimum conditions and enforces that no forced or child labor is acceptable. Their happy sheets with rings of rosies and posies provide sweets reminders of spring + summer with pops of color and playful patterns.

Our friends at the Organic Consumers Association remind us that while we wouldn't expect to find pesticides in our toothpaste or linens, the vast majority of harmful pesticides have made it into everyday products, so stay tuned this week for more fun products to keep your home clean + green and you and your family healthy + happy. 

{Eco Boutique} Global Goods Partners: It's All Good

{ handwoven linen scarf } 

{ 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 } 

Today's Eco Boutique is Global Goods Partners. But first, let us start here: to know me is to know that brevity is not my strength. Just ask my friends, family + coworkers. Just recently a friend and I talked for 9 hours straight - we took bathroom breaks of course, and while there were drinks involved, I do believe most of what we shared was fresh content. 

Even the folks who stand behind me in line at the grocery store will vouch for my verbose nature. I love taking in and sharing information. Knowledge is power, right? And I suppose I feel empowered when I know what you're going to be using all those tomatoes for.

I've finally found a site that thoroughly satiates my inquisitive nature and provides a plethora of information about not only the producers of the phenomenal fair trade fashion {featured above + below here}, but also a detailed history of past events, including timelines + maps, of the 20 countries from which the artisans hail.

Included are detailed bios of the 38 partnering organizations along with pictures, names + direct quotes from the artisans who deftly craft these beautiful goods. Names are important to me and, and these details go straight to my heart {I once had a spunky, no-nonsense boss who changed her last name to Freed after overcoming sizable obstacles in her life}. Global Goods Partners satisfies a curious mind and a deficient closet.

From our friends at Global Goods Partners:

As professionals in the international development field, Catherine Lieber Shimony and Joan Shifrin traveled to impoverished areas around the globe to support community-based groups. Time and time again, Catherine and Joan met dynamic women that were producing beautiful, handmade goods. 

They saw first-hand how women in marginalized communities throughout Asia, Africa, and the Americas were able to plan for long-term community development and social change only after their income was stabilized. In 2005, Catherine and Joan were inspired to found Global Goods Partners to create effective income-generation opportunities for women and their communities through access to the consumer market for handmade, fair trade products.

Global Goods Partners is a nonprofit organization that sells handmade, fair trade products in order to improve the economic status of women in marginalized communities around the world. GGP works with nearly 40 artisan groups which collectively employ over 3,000 women in close to 20 countries. The online store offers socially-conscious consumers a direct connection to artisan partners that are changing women’s lives by helping them to build sustainable livelihoods. We are women, hear us roar.

 { 5 / 6 / 7 }

{Eco Blog of the Week} Oxfam: Demanding Justice, Dispensing Fashion

Did you know Oxfam has a fashion blog and an online vintage charity shop? 'Tis true, and we'll be getting to that in a bit. This week's eco blog takes us all the way back to 1942, to a time when copious heroes were being cooked up across the United Kingdom.

I know, there weren't bloggers back in the days of yore, however there was a group of impassioned Oxford academics, Quakers + social activists galvanized to effect positive change. 

{a wee bit of history first}  
Oxfam, founded in Oxford in 1942, was originally known as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, and their mission was to persuade the British Government to allow food relief through the Allied blockade for the starving citizens of Axis occupation Greece.

Today Oxfam is an international relief and development organization working in 90 countries to create lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice. Their work is guided by their Strategic Plan, Demanding Justice: their goals include gender justice + economic justice via sustainable livelihoods, long-term development programs + humanitarian aid.

{and now the fashion, boys and girls}
So here we are. Today Oxfam has a fashion blog and an online vintage shop with a seriously robust collection of rare finds. Where do I even start? But let me not use words, but rather, let's skip right on over to their cyber-racks of gorgeous dresses + skirts.

You can shop by decade {50's, 60's, 70's, 80's} or by apparel, accessories + home wares. If you sew, you'll love their selection of vintage patterns. The prices on all items are so budget-friendly, and every penny you spend helps to support Oxfam's wonderful work around the world. 

If you're life is complete sans the addition of apparel and you're home is complete with nary another tchotchke, then consider purchasing a gift in their eco-warrior shop or the oxfam unwrapped shop - buy books for schoolchildren, clean water for the thirsty + green energy for those without electricity.

Psst...did I mention they have antiquarian books? Be still my beating heart.

photomontage by f+d {images via vogue uk}

{Around the Globe} Edun: Out of the Dark, Into the Wild

Over the years, U2's Bono has used his incendiary influence to pursue his mission of alleviating poverty + promoting equality; in 2005 Bono together with his wife Ali Hewson founded EDUN, an ethical fashion label, as a vehicle to promote fair trade. EDUN is now a global fashion brand bringing about positive change through its trading relationship with Africa and it’s positioning as a creative force in contemporary fashion. 

This season there's olive aplenty in the brilliantly designed garments at EDUN. My go-to neutral + favorite layering color is drab olive. There's something utterly calming + comforting about this earthen hue for me. It's also a welcome departure from my somber uniform of ebony + ivory. Olive is a courteous color that seems to gladly receive any hue alongside it.

Perhaps olive, reminiscent of foliage, reflects the beauty of nature, and just the thought of nature makes me happy. Perhaps it conjures a safari jacket which in turn brings to mind adventures in exotic + far-flung locales: explorations under African skies {I have an active imagination indeed}. Or maybe it's because I really love snacking on olives.

Whatever the reason, the imaginative details + color combinations at EDUN are intriguing and the mission undeniably noble. EDUN is building long term, sustainable opportunities by supporting manufacturers, infrastructure and community building initiatives. 

EDUN actively works to increase trade with Africa and is aiming to produce 40% of its seasonal fashion collection in Africa by 2013. Currently EDUN has 8,500 farmers in northern Uganda supplying their cotton, and their goal is to have 10,000 in the upcoming season.  

EDUN is currently working in Kenya, Morocco, Madagascar, Uganda + Tunisia, and they hope to continue to grow awareness, jobs, and your closet with beautiful clothing. Oh, and if olive is too tame for your wardrobe, energize any ensemble with EDUN's intensely hued scarves or their fresh prints.