We Dig Organic Farming
Date: October 24, 2008 | Category: Fashion, Food, Food & Drink, Green Building, Lifestyle
While dirty fingernails may not be the hallmark of the ecofab lady at a cocktail fundraiser, there’s nothing like harvesting your own fruit and vegetables for a delicious home-cooked feast.
Our own Heather has been a member of Eatwell Farm since June, which delivers seasonal local produce right to her neighborhood. As a member of this Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, she also has the opportunity to indulge her inner earth child and participate in events like the Annual Tomato Party, where she can work in the fields alongside other members and farmers to turn sultry vine-ripened tomatoes into robust sauce and Bloody Marys!
With thousands of CSA’s sprouting up all over the country, members pledge to support their local operation, sharing the risks and benefits of production. It also provides a unique hands-on chance to learn about organic farming. For those who prefer to sponsor organic agriculture through consumption alone, Eatwell Farm charges around $125 per month for weekly delivery of produce and a dozen eggs. To find a CSA in your area, check out Local Harvest or The Farm Locator. And, pssst, remember to clean your fingernails before your dinner guests arrive!
Top Green Design
Date: October 9, 2008 | Category: Green Building, Lifestyle, Media, Office
As a self-trained designer, I get a special thrill out of indulging in an hour of Top Design, even last season when it was painfully bad. This season is actually well produced and addictive enough to thoroughly entertain me whilst I peck away at my keyboard round midnight.
It is tremendously enjoyable to see rooms come together, especially with time constraints, but I am always amazed at how the contestants are oblivious to what is happening in the ecosphere. Tonight was a refreshing exception. Danny Seo was the guest judge for an eco-challenge.
I thought that Danny did an excellent job delineating the eco-R’s “reduce, reuse, recycle, refinish, repair, reupholster, just be resourceful”. I was biting my lip when the very naive Natalie used MDF (medium density fiberboard) to make recycling bins - it is a material that can offgas for 14 years! I wanted to give Danny a big tree hug when he called her on it, though she still looked like a deer caught in headlights. Also I found it disturbing that they commented on how they were cleaning everything up with Windex, couldn’t they have used Method or Green Works?!
They should have given the contestants more furniture and accessory choices to show viewers what is possible, even judge Jonathan Adler has a bunch of eco-accessories to choose from at his store (we recently sprinkled them throughout the West Coast Green showhouse).
All in all, it was great to see mainstream media experiment with sustainable ideas. I hope next season that those ideas (and ideally many more) are incorporated into every challenge!
Happy Paint Comes from California
Date: October 9, 2008 | Category: Green Building, Home Furnishings, The Home
By now you have probably figured out that it is far easier to do the right thing from the beginning than it is to undo the wrong thing.
Take paint for example: Did you know the EPA estimates that 64 million gallons of paint are diverted away from landfills and incinerators thanks to responsible disposal and recycling? The only problem is that the EPA also estimates it could cost close to $500 million to keep a handle on all that incoming paint.
Yikes!
A better alternative for safeguarding Mother Earth from toxic oil-based paints is to start out on the right foot from stroke one.
California Paints has recently unveiled its new Elements Zero VOC interior paint line and its Envirotech Zero VOC commercial-grade paint line. Both product lines are GreenWise certified and LEED Compliant, and - as the name suggests - are free of nasty VOCs (volatile organic compounds), which have long been used in paints to help ward off pesky microbes, like mold and mildew, but which play a significant role in contributing to the planet’s greenhouse gases. These two eco-friendly paint lines, boast Microban technology, also known for keeping paint (even in the bathroom) free of mold and other stains.
That’s that kind of news that can brighten your day, not to mention your walls.
Mi Casa es Green Casa
Date: October 8, 2008 | Category: Events, Green Building, Lifestyle, Media
While we were very pleased with how our Harbinger House project at West Coast Green turned out, it is always nice to get positive feedback from our peers. We were thrilled to see such a flattering write up of our project appear on CasaSugar, which features a slideshow of the house that our team designed.
Green Goes with Everything
Date: October 1, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Garden, Green Building, Home Furnishings, Kitchen, Office, Pets, The Home
For any person who is interested in creating a more pure environment for his or her family, a new book has hit stores that offers some solid guidance for achieving your eco goals.
“Green Goes With Everything,” by Sloan Barnett, is seven chapters packed with information and tips aimed at helping you clean up your act and your environment.
Like me, Sloan’s environmental quest was fueled by the desire to find a cure for her children’s asthma. And amazingly, like me, she was able to cure it by eliminating the toxins in her house and by switching to natural cleaning supplies. Makes you wonder how many people have had a comparable experience. My guess is that there are many of us out there with similar stories. But if you are a parent of a child still suffering from asthma, you might need this framework.
Sloan is the Green Editor for KNTV in San Francisco and she knows her stuff; the book provides simple, well-researched solutions to creating a safe environment for you and your family. It is available in stores and online now. I only wish this was out when I was embarking upon my initial environmental journey!
Get Your Rocks On!
Date: September 26, 2008 | Category: Green Building, Kitchen, The Home
Does the task of choosing building supplies make you feel dumber than a box of rocks? When it comes to remodeling a bathroom or kitchen it needn’t have to thanks to sustainable surface products, like Modwalls’ ModRocks pebble tile.
The natural polished pebbles are available two sizes, and in a variety of color combinations. The tile looks amazing as flooring or walls for kitchens and showers, as well as in pools and spas, on outdoor walkways and even for fireplace surrounds.
For ecofabulous’s latest project - designing and decorating the interior of the “Harbinger,” a two-story, 1,700 square foot show house currently on display on the tradeshow floor at West Coast Green – we chose the company’s recycled glass tile. Another intriguing option is the all-natural Cork Mosaic Penny Rounds, made of end cuts from a wine cork manufacturer. All of these products are mesh mounted in square foot sheets or larger as noted, for easy modular installation.
We’ll drink to that!
A Bewitchin’ Kitchen
Date: September 26, 2008 | Category: Green Building, Home Furnishings, Kitchen, The Home
Recent headlines suggesting some granite countertops may emit hazardous levels of radiation are disturbing and have led many people to wonder what a safer alternative to their old standby might be. Enter EcoTop, a line of environmentally responsible countertops that are not only healthy but elegant.
EcoTop is composed of a Forest Stewardship Council-certified 50/50 blend of bamboo fiber - a rapidly renewable resource - and recycled wood fiber salvaged from demolition sites. These materials are bound together by a water-based resin formula that is both petroleum-free and VOC-free. Because of this, EcoTop products can earn you up to six points on your next LEED project.
So let’s review the choices: granite with potentially hazardous levels of radiation, or EcoTop’s chic, durable and environmentally-friendly alternative? Don’t you wish all of your decisions were this easy to made?
Need a Green Guide?
Date: September 26, 2008 | Category: Featured, Garden, Green Building, Home Furnishings, The Home
Like everything we do, our Harbinger show house project at West Coast Green was big, and one that we could not have completed without the help of our trusted advisors at Green Fusion Design Center.
Green Fusion Design Center, located here in San Francisco, is the most unique green retail showroom in the Bay Area, and an invaluable resource for both the homeowner and the professional green builder. Green Fusion offers products and services of all types to create healthier environments, both commercial and residential.
Their philosophy is that too often the only thing standing in the way of the average person attempting an eco-design project is a lack of available green resources, information and products. The company is working to change that by bridging the gap between supply and demand, by providing education to its customers and only selling products that promote healthier lifestyles.
On our project, not only was Green Fusion an important one-stop-shop for many of the building materials, fixtures and paint that we used, its team of experts on green design helped advise on which components would work together most efficiently.
Don’t believe us? Come check out what the ecofabulous/ Green Fusion Design Center team accomplished at West Coast Green, at the San Jose Convention Center through Sept. 27, or take an interactive tour of Green Fusion’s showroom.
Those Jeans Look Great in your Walls
Date: September 25, 2008 | Category: Events, Green Building, The Home
Reusing items we already own is a big theme here at ecofabulous, so it was with great excitement that the fashion junkies in our office discovered a new use for their old blue jeans: turn them into green insulation.
This fall Fair Indigo, in conjunction with Cotton Incorporated and Bonded Logic, is continuing its annual denim drive to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Here is how it works: You just send in your discarded denim and Cotton Incorporated shreds them down into fibers. Bonded Logic then steps in to turn your ratty old pants into natural new insulation for a Habitat for Humanity home.
Besides being a excellent insulator, for those of us who suffer from asthma, UltraTouch is a breath of fresh air; it recently passed the extremely stringent Environmental Specification 1350 Indoor Air Pollutant testing used for California Public Schools.
UltraTouch requires a minimal amount of energy to manufacture, which conserves energy and reduces pollution, especially in comparison to the methods used to manufacture traditional insulation. And you can lose the Haz-Mat suit: the fibers in UltraTouch insulation are so natural that there is no need for the protective clothing recommended for the installation of conventional insulators.
To find out where to send your old jeans, click here. This is one insulation that will give you a warm feeling inside knowing that you’ve contributed to a cool cause.
Good for the Sole
Date: September 25, 2008 | Category: Featured, Green Building, Home Furnishings, The Home
The offices of ecofabulous are constantly inundated by companies trying to bamboozle us into recommending their green products, but we needed no convincing to feature Teragren, whose stunning bamboo flooring we want to shout about from the rooftops.
Beautiful, sustainable and durable, bamboo is the perfect choice in even the highest-traffic areas of your home. The flooring is made from moso bamboo, which is known for its density and remarkable tensile strength. In fact, the material is so strong that it has been used in the construction of buildings, bridges and scaffolds for centuries. (more…)
