Today Was Fun for Green Tea
Date: July 22, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle
You may drink green tea, but is your green tea actually green? Today Was Fun has introduced a new line of Green GREEN TEA. Committed to leaving no carbon trace, Today Was Fun’s individually-wrapped loose tea bags offer superb organic taste.
What really caught our eye, however, is their creative packaging. The triangular box is covered in a mosaic of innovative graphics and blurbs guaranteed to keep you entertained and inspired during tea-time, such as: “Free Caffeine: Contains a little caffeine, to give you the extra world saving energy you need to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and wear your underpants over your pants without getting beat up.” Being a mom, my personal fave is: “Save the Earth and Yourself: Your kids are going to need somewhere to live when they grow up – if the earth becomes uninhabitable, they’ll never leave home.” How true! I’d tell you more, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise. A healthy indulgence for home or an ecofabulous gift, Today Was Fun is good clean fun for the entire planet.
Making the Grade This Fourth of July
Date: June 30, 2008 | Category: Beauty, Events, Food & Drink, Lifestyle, Skin Care
Fourth of July is quite a quandary for me and many other environmentally conscious fun seekers. I love the parades, cold beers and family celebration. I even like the red, white and blue (not a year goes by that I don’t don something like a blue skirt and blue and white stripped top and red accents). Unfortunately, our independence is often celebrated at the expense of the earth, which we actually are at least a little dependent upon, no? Activities are likely to contain what we’ve dubbed the “triple ‘F’ threat” : Fun in the sun, Fireworks and Food (waste is just a given). Go from an F grade to an A by going green on our nation’s most patriotic holiday. First off, try to keep your festivities local… or carpool.
Fun in the sun is much more enticing when it isn’t at the expense of your health. Sunscreen is necessary - we keep hearing - but opt for an eco-friendly alternative like Soléo Organics, made entirely from organic ingredients with nothing synthetic. No sacrifices here, though. It works just as well, if not better, than its chemically-laden counterparts. In fact, you’ll be left feeling soft and revitalized as the sun sets with both UVA and UVB protection (3 hours in the water), not to mention a natural sun reflector found in nanofine zinc oxide. If you have oily or sensitive skin, Juice Beauty’s tinted moisturizer with SPF 30 is a brilliant solution for the face (since I have dry skin, I first apply Duchess Marden’s oil first).
Who doesn’t love a good fireworks display (well, my dog isn’t particularly keen)? But just think of all the nasty stuff they set off into the atmosphere: lead, barium, chromium, chlorates, dioxins, smoke and particulates, carbon monoxide. etc. Good news is that soon you’re going to be able to convert those un-earth-friendly fireworks to green ones that are still a blast. Chemists are developing fireworks that utilize nitrogen-rich compounds for energy and non-toxic metals for color variation, thus eliminating the massive black clouds that litter post-spectacle skies (of course we’re vastly oversimplifying this here). When these hit the market (hopefully by next year), it’s up to us to get our communities to switch over.
A BBQ is the quintessential Independence Day observance. But as patriotic as slapping hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill is, consider that the sole thing you can do to benefit the environment is cut down on the consumption of animals. Here is where I confess that I too like a little sirloin, and since this is the ultimate BBQ season, the 4th is usually when I cannot resist (but I always think free-range and antibiotic-free). Eggplant, Portobello mushroom and corn on the cob can taste divine when grilled (and even more amazing when they come from a local, organic farmer), and there are tons of faux meat options. Just as important, serve up those veggie delights on anything but a conventional disposable plate that will be used for mere minutes before hitting the trash. Toting your china around may be unrealistic, but check out the compostable, all natural platters, plates and bowls from VerTerra. They are made out of fallen leaves from plantations in an enviro-consciously manufacturing process. These are the chicest single-use tableware we’ve seen. I guess it could be that we are being brainwashed by the Dharma Initiative, but the whole office is giddy for these hexagonal beauties. Apparently they can be reused for serving but I am tempted to create some sort of art project - like covering an entire wall.
Here’s to honoring and protecting the land of the free this Fourth of July!
Anyone for a Little Haut Chocolat?
Date: June 26, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Holiday & Gift, Lifestyle
Whether you are the type of chocoholic that gets giddy around a box exotic truffles or a bar that you can slip in your laptop case, Vosges Haut-Chocolat has an outrageous taste for everyone. Made by owner and Chocolatier Katrina Markoff, Vosges are the product of renewable energy power (from wind farms and biomass facilities) coupled with a growing list of organic ingredients (this year they’re using organic sugar, butter, cream and nuts). Recipient of Bon Appetit’s Food Artisan of the Year Award, Markoff is on a mission to craft eco couture chocolate. Even the luxurious Vosges purple boxes (worthy of reuse) are made from 100% recycled cardboard. When I go to a dinner party, I always bring a box of the truffles or my favorite desert, Wink of the Rabbit Organic Caramels (the choice depends upon whether I plan on indulging or not).
For the Closet Diet Coke a Day Peeps
Date: June 23, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle
To create a “diet” soda that has neither calories nor chemicals is no small feat. And to make it taste good - even comparable to its conventional counterparts - seems downright unimaginable, that is until we laid our lips on a can (or four) of Zevia.
How do they do it???
Dishing on Zak
Date: June 23, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Kitchen, Lifestyle
I am not a fan of any petroleum based plastic but some summer parties, especially when adjacent to a pool, are a little scary without dishes that you can safely drop. Zak Designs are a big hit with my kids and their friends because they come in abright, fun colors (orange, magenta, turquoise and kiwi). And none of the under eight crowd realize that they are recycled melamine. For more sophisticated outdoor BBQs (now that may actually be an oxymoron), Zak’s black and red bowls are a cool alternative to disposables (read our previous post here).
Organic on a Budget
Date: June 20, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle
Pesticides are bad for people and the planet, so choosing to eat organic may be a personal health issue, a planetary one, or both. Whatever it may be, we can all safely say we’d like to ingest the least amount of pesticides as possible. The newshounds over at Forecast Earth have a great article on how to do just that with practicality in mind (when organic isn’t in sight or cash flow is waning).
Crispy Cat
Date: June 20, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle
Thought you had your last candy bar ever when you crossed high fructose corn syrup and other potentially genetically modified ingredients off your list (did you really do that, or just plan on doing that)? Have no fear, Crispy Cat candy bars, the first organic candy bars, are here (the three flavors range from 70% to 92% organic ingredients). Sweetened with organic brown rice syrup, these gluten-free, vegan (someone alert Oprah), and kosher goodies are sure to satisfy anyone’s sweet tooth. I love the Roasted Peanut, which is reminiscent of a Snickers. There is also Mint Coconut and Toasted Almond. All the bars feature organic dark chocolate and organic cocoa butter, and you can use Crispy Cat’s convenient store locator to get to your chocolate fix-fast! Sweet.
Primo Water
Date: June 19, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink
With the plastic floating around the Pacific Gyre shockingly expanding to greater than the size of Texas, it is time to starve our desire for quick plastic solutions. Though reusable is the best option, sometimes we all forget our containers (even the ones who claim perfection, which we certainly do not!). Primo – unlike other water bottles made from non-renewable crude oil - is crafted from plants. Ingeo natural plastic, the material used in Primo bottles, is made completely from annually renewable resources. If every traditional plastic bottle were made with Ingeo, Primo claims that we would save about one billion gallons of gas per year. They also say that their bottles require 65 percent less fossil resources than a traditional plastic bottle, and Ingeo gives off 80 to 90 percent less greenhouse gases. So we have determined that Primo is less bad. Unfortunately they are not biodegradable, which won’t help much with the floating island of plastic waste. If you would like to learn more, check out this video on how the bottles are created and remember that disposables in general are not a sustainable solution.
This Cereal’s Got Balls
Date: June 13, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle
We received a box of Leapin’ Lemurs in the mail this morning, and we must admit that it’s nearly gone (mainly between Andrea the vegan and Omar our omnivore). They’re not feeling too guilty about it though, because Envirokidz cereals are nothing like conventional ones laden with fat, sugar, salt, GMOs and dyes. My children have started many mornings with their beloved Gorilla Munch (they also love the games on the back of boxes). But us geminis need variety, so I was thrilled to hear that Envirokidz just launched two new lower sugar, whole grain cereals: Leapin’ Lemurs and Penguin Puffs. The former is a gluten free pairing of peanut butter and chocolate balls and the later is a crunchy blend of kamut, quinoa and corn (not GMO!) - both 100% certified organic and 100% delicious. If those little PB balls weren’t addictive enough all on their own, EnvironKidz donates 1% of their profits to causes related to the environment and species conservation. Good thing, because we are going to need a few more boxes!
Sex, Sustainability & The City
Date: June 10, 2008 | Category: Food & Drink, Lifestyle
One of the Ecofabulous ladies braved crowds last week to see Sex & The City. And what she took away from it… was a strong hankering for a Cosmopolitan. Better than a Manolo craving! So we’ve set out to make the delectable Cosmo truly ecofabulous. Here’s how:
