You’ll Like this Prescription, Homie
Date: March 11, 2009 | Category: Cleaning, Green Building, Home Furnishings, Kitchen, Media, Stores & Resources, The Home
You’ve made the switch to non-toxic cleaners, are actively recycling and you’ve even installed a low-flow shower head. Now what? Next steps can be confusing. Don’t you wish someone would just create a prescriptive plan for you? (more…)
Salt of the Sea
Date: January 2, 2009 | Category: Featured, Food & Drink, Holiday & Gift, Kitchen, Lifestyle
Need a little inspiration in the kitchen? Look no further than the ubiquitous answer to all dry, drab dining disasters – salt. But this isn’t just any old table salt. This stuff is magic. Forty Oaks Farm’s salt bouquets are culinary bliss, a simple solution for any kitchen quandary. (more…)
The Answer is Clear
Date: December 31, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Kitchen, Lifestyle, The Home
There has been a lot of talk about the potential harm of various types of plastic. One of the most commonly used plastics is the tupperware containers used for leftovers and to pack your lunch in. At microwave temperatures, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has stated that it’s possible for chemicals from these plastics to “migrate” into food - decidedly not so delicious. But what’s an eco-conscious cook to do with leftovers? The answer is clear, use glass containers! Frigoverre happens to be our favorite but there are plenty of other brands available as well, the point is that they’re glass.
Glass containers don’t leach chemicals when they are heated, the way plastic can. Another sub-benefit of glass storage is that the pieces are so nice they can be used for storage, and also for serving (the big container looks looks like a large casserole dish).
Twist & Shout about How Clean your House is
Date: December 31, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
Cleaning has us dancing to a new tune. We’re twirling and shaking all over the kitchen because of Twist, a company dedicated to paying attention to what goes into their products and what happens to them when they’re tossed away (because there is no “away”). Twist reuses 99.7% of their waste in production and their cellulose is sourced from renewable tree farms. Each of their products has been designed to be as ecologically sound as possible from production to packaging. We must warn that their scrubbing sponge tends to separate, so until they fix that problem, you may want to stick to the other basics. (more…)
Experiencing Earthlust
Date: December 26, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Kitchen, Lifestyle, The Home
Many women - and some men - gain extra appreciation for our planet after bringing a child on to it. Such is the case with Earthlust founder, Allison, who made a firm commitment to protecting the environment when her son was born. His health, which is inextricably connected to the health of the earth, became her top priority. She started designing chic reusable bottles for friends and family, and soon Earthlust was born. (more…)
Feed the Whole World
Date: December 16, 2008 | Category: Bags, Fashion, Featured, Kitchen
According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually, and making them requires an estimated 12 million barrels of oil! Choosing reusable shopping bags is one of the easiest ways to cut down on your waste and take a simple step in the path towards living sustainably. Thankfully, there are now a lot of eco-totes on the market, but they are not all created equally! A little more fulfilling than most is the Whole Foods FEED 100 bag. (more…)
Shake it Up
Date: December 5, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Kitchen, The Home
Good old salt n’ peppa get a face-lift with these sexy shakers from Branch Home. Handmade in Brooklyn, these culinary companions will take the focus off any cooking mishaps with their clean lines and classic stature. The salt shaker is made from reclaimed poplar wood, treated with a low-VOC milk paint and the pepper shaker is made from reclaimed walnut wood. Both have a natural cork stopper. In traditional colors, the shakers go with any dining décor while still putting a little sass into your seasoning.
Presented in a recycled-paper gift box, at $56 the pair are a savory treat for the tabletop – and any deserving foodie on your holiday list.
Reverse World - Gardens that Eat Insects!
Date: November 12, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Featured, Kitchen, The Home
Managing pests like flies in the kitchen has been a challenge for more than one eco-minded housekeeper. If you have a fruit bowl, at some point you will likely have fruit flies buzzing around your kitchen. The flies are harmless but, quite frankly, watching them land on your beautiful farmer’s market finds can be a minor bummer.
The Insect Eating Garden from Gifts that Bloom is a Venus fly trap that makes a meal out of the little buggers. For just $10.95, it is about the same price as bug spray but without any harmful chemicals. Just add water and sunshine and at least one problem will be history. (more…)
Giving Water a Voice
Date: November 6, 2008 | Category: Events, Food & Drink, Kitchen, Lifestyle, Stores & Resources
Water’s been getting a bad rap lately due to its connection with the wasteful plastic bottle industry. Last week, ecofabulous attended an event in New York where PŪR gave water a voice by inviting a panel of experts to discuss the effects of the water bottling industry and release breakthrough technology in the field of water filtration.
While many of us have adopted the recycling regime, an astonishing 38 billion plastic water bottles are still thrown away each year. Even if we reach the point where we are recycling 100% of the plastic bottles, the production process still requires a huge amount of energy. The U.S. requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil each year in order to meet the bottle-making demands of Americans – that’s enough to fuel 100,000 U.S. cars for a year. (more…)
Green Eggs and Pan
Date: November 6, 2008 | Category: Kitchen, The Home
Hate to ruin your appetite, but unfortunately for all of us, the non-stick cookware that made your eggs slide so easily onto your plate likely contained PTFE, which is toxic at high temperatures. And PFOA, a chemical involved in non-stick production, has been deemed “likely carcinogenic” by the EPA.
Enter Green Pan, a Belgium-based company that has developed a line of cookware that’s PTFE-Free and PFOA-Free in manufacturing. As a plus, the company is able to forge the pans using half the energy required to produce a pan with a PTFE coating. Coining the term “constainable,” they are developing products that blend convenience with sustainability.
Rejoice, eggs are back on the table!
