Elisa's Green Scene

Carnival of the Green #16 is up at the Naked Vegetarian

And The Naked Vegetarian goes all the way(no, not like that) with the carnival theme, taking on the role of carnie barker for this week's selected posts.

I have to pick as my favorite post (other than Karen's post about UPS' steps toward environmental friendliness) the post by CityHippy marking his one-year anniversary blogging.

Closing a nice recap of his year in blogging, Al asks: "What do you think is the single biggest problem the world faces and how do we solve it?"

He gets many a good answer in his comments.

I like Mrs. Moo's response:

I think the biggest problems we face are ignorance and laziness. How do we overcome them? As you have already said "Be the change we want to see in the world".

My answer might be ignorance and apathy. Somehow "laziness" indicates a level of awareness and caring that I fear isn't even there! (I know, pretty bad when "laziness" is a more positive attribute, but there you go.)

What do you think?

Carnival of Healing #31 is up at the Holistic Healing Blog

Check out this week's Carnival of Healing at the Holistic Healing Blog.

Host Phyl does an interesting job of categorizing posts by whether they're asking "Why?"...those big questions, like "Why am I here?" for example. Or whether they're looking at 'Y's...those forks in the road where we make a choice.

I guess my post about criteria that would help me choose socially reponsible corporations to invest in falls into that latter category :)

So get philosophical over at the Carnival of Healing.

Cool new show on BBC: The Ethical Man

You Brits have an interesting new show to watch, and I hope you'll share your thoughts on it, if you do watch it.

BBC Newsnight is going to follow one man's quest to be The Ethical Man.

First, of course, they had to assess how "ethical" he is now. They did this by assessing his family's "carbon footprint". The out come?

My family is responsible for almost 10 tons of carbon a year! I'd thought that we would be well below the national average given how little we use the car and how careful we are about energy use in the home. In fact we are well above it - three tons of carbon above the average, to be precise.

I'm a little disappointed in the show's coverage, so far, because of two things:

1. They really should have a show blog! how can they not give us a day-to-day record of the family's experience? Come on people!

2. So far it seems that for this show ethical=environmentally friendly. OK, fine, although I think there's a lot more to ethics than that. But, so far I haven't even seen them address specifically how one's food choices affects the environment. Since The Ethical Man briefly contemplates raising pigs in his yard, I'm assuming they haven't addressed the environmental impact of meat vs. grain production.

As I said, I don't think this is showing on BBC America, so if anyone out there is watching it I'd love to know your thoughts.

Do you buy local?

One/Change has an interesting post on why they buy local.

Interesting because a big part of their reason is "knowing" who you're doing business with and feeling a closer bond with their community.

That would never be as much my reason, because I think living in the Silicon Valley there isn't much of a sense of geographically localized community. Do you know your neighbors? I barely do, and it's been that way in many neighborhoods I have lived in in the Bay Area. (Yeah, maybe it's me, I know.) But really, the Valley feels like a fairly transitory place...new ideas and people and companies coming in and out.

I also tend to think you can never really know people just because you do business with them a few times a week. Just because someone runs a local coffee shop instead of a Starbucks franchise doesn't mean they're a good person vs. a bad person. All you have to do is read the news to hear about yet another milquetoast "wouldn't hurt a fly" person who's nothing but.

However, I do totally buy into the more macro-level reasons to buy local...small, local companies are less likely to be lobbying government officials to get regulations eased, less likely to be getting disproportionate tax breaks, less likely to be mass polluters. So on and so forth. And I like revenues and tax dollars staying in my community and helping the infrastructure of my community. (Although given how everyone incorporates in Delaware is that even actually true?)

Reading this post I think I sound quite cynical.

So, brighten up our hip & zen day...tell me...do you buy local? And what are your reasons?

UPS leads the way

Since opening hip & zen, I have been an ardent admirer of UPS.  One for their ceaseless reliability, and two for their cheerful staff - personally I think they must put something in the water over there.  Now I have another reason.  UPS have announced they are adding 50 hybrid vehicles to their fleet, and 4,100 low-emission conventional vehicles this year.  Currently their alternative fuel fleet is 1,500 vehicles, one of the largest in the country.  Alternative fuels being used by UPS include natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, electricity and hydrogen.  The 50 hybrid vehicles will be deployed in Dallas in June and are expected to reduce the fuel consumption by 44,000 gallons over the year, and should reduce CO 2 gases released by 457 metric tons.  It would be amazing to think what the effect would be if they converted their whole fleet, when you consider that they delivered 3.6 billion packages and documents in 2004 (internationally).  Anyway, lets just say its a good start. Thanks, UPS and keep putting that stuff in the water for happy drivers.

Carnival of the Vanities is up at a DC Birding Blog

Please visit the DC Birding Blog to check out this week's Carnival of the Vanities.

The Carnival of the Vanities is the blogosphere blowing its own horn, submitting their best posts of the week. I submitted my post here about doing business and doing good...and exposing corporate practices, so I can make better investment decisions.

The real reason to check out Carnivals such as these it to be introduced to new bloggers or just new ideas. A couple of posts jumped out at me this week:

Philobiblon writes a post on the woman burglars of the Old Bailey, back in 17th century England. Given that much of the blogging I read is very contemporary, about what's happening right now, but that many of the non-fiction books I read off-line are historical, it was fun to find a historical blog.

And on the host blog itself, I found a post that explores how an annual day of love and romance ever became associated with a rather obscure saint. (Note: we're not talking about how Hallmark turned it into an annual gorge-fest.)

So visit the Carnival and find something new.

Welcome to the Carnival of the Green #15

Welcome to the 15th edition of the Carnival of the Green: your one-stop shop for green blogging. This is the hip & zen pen, a blog off-shoot of hip & zen, an online store that  sells products with a modern aesthetic, that support a progressive ethos. We like to prove that you can can do business and still do good.

Speaking of Doing Business & Doing Good: Of course hip & zen isn't the only store or service out there trying to do business and do good. Some of our Carnival submissions are about that very topic...or sometimes about efforts to gently prod companies in that direction:

GreenBloggers all know Green LA Girl (along with CityHippy) has led the charge to do just that with Starbucks. This week's Carnival of the Green submissions consists of two posts, outlining how Starbucks is trying to avoid adhering to outside definitions of fair trade, by creating their own. Part I introduces us to Starbuck's CAFE practices. (And casts a skeptical eye on the language contained therein.) Part II further explores the hypocrisy behind Starbuck's approach to the issue...and exposes how their first response to consumers asking about it is a lie. In other words: you've got to know they're lying to get them to stop lying to you. Following the Starbucks Challenge is an interesting way to see that grassroots action is a long-term commitment and occasionally a long, hard slog.

Enrique from commonground notes that at least some sources think that small-scale farming is making a comeback. Too bad the Dirty Greek has a post that explores how massive corporations are seeking to consolidate their control over more steps along the supply chain, making it harder for such farmers to exist!

My co-author and hip & zen proprietor Karen is very interested in new, green housing solutions. She's pointed us to more than one kind of eco-friendly pre-fab option. So I know Karen will particularly appreciate greener magazine's look at the Katrina Cottage, which is designed to bring a sense of normalcy and comfort to its occupants.

Perhaps a comforting thing for those of us trying to live as ethical consumers is that there are now enough companies doing business and doing good that bloggers can do product comparison!

CityHippy compares eco-friendly deodorants! Or as they more cleverly call them: eco-B.O.-busters! I am paying particular attention because I don't think my Tom's of Maine really is that great.

greatgreengoods points us to not one, not three but ten products derived from recycled auto tires. Seriously cool and seriously green.

And it might be a little late for Valentine's Day, but I personally believe romance shouldn't be confined to one day per year...so go on over to the greener side and learn about green chocolates (a very comprehensive comparative chart on organic chocolates) and green sex toys. Yes, you heard me. And it shouldn't be shocking, since we've written about hip & zen sex here before!

In case you're overwhelmed by all the shopping, green or not, the greener side has it both ways by pointing us to a new movement in San Francisco: a compact to buy nothing new, unless it's for food, health or safety. Awesome idea? Too much? What do you think?

Speaking of health: The Savvy Vegetarian brings us the story of one man, and what a new vegetarian diet did for his health. Not overly surprising, despite recent questions about low-fat diets.

Talking 'Bout the Weather: Oh, sure, we're supposed to talk about the weather when meeting new people...innocuous subject , right? Wrong. Some of our green bloggers are making the case that we are seeing evidence of global warming and climate change, and some of the commenters don't like it:

Jason from The Anthropik Network has a cheery post entitled: The Mid-Apocalypse Review, 2005-2006 Winter. My favorite line may actually be one Jason utters in the comments:

No, I'm expecting Pennsylvania to be more like the Carolinas. Don't get too attached to the South, though...

And Jason isn't the only one concerned about the eventual erosion of the polar bear habitat...so is The Disillusioned Kid. Who wonders aloud whether the Bush Administration's impending review of whether the  polar bear should be designated as an Endangered Species is an indication that they may finally be realizing climate change is real.

UPDATED: I should have included this post from The Blue Voice, also about the plight of the polar bears.

Might As Well Face It: We're Addicted To Oil: Yes, that was the message from Dubya's SOTU speech, which was ironic to many folks, given his big oil man background. And GreenBloggers react:

baloghblog writes a lengthy and instructive post, Beyond Panic, Peak Oil Revisited, sharing the ebb and flow of feelings  about the future: urgency, panic, preparation, depression, resignation, revival, action.  It might be a bleak picture being painted at times, but there is also practical advice.

You may have heard about Sweden's vow to wean themselves from oil...without increasing nuclear production. It's gotten some GreenBlogLove, from commonground, from  BlogHer (and when I say love, I mean love.)

And CamdenLady so loves the idea she writes this extensive post about how the UK could follow suit.

And I'm sure it would get some GreenBlogLove from Dee of Dee's 'Dotes, given her current activism against nuclear waste disposal in her state of Utah.

Perhaps Sweden should follow sustainablog's link to a recent prize-winning solar collection solution, invented by a University of Wisconsin undergrad student.

Finally, Lee, from Exuberant Pantaphobia, laments the fact that an influential eco-driven producer at the Discovery Channel is moving on, and wonders who will make sure the program The Daily Planet remains as impressive as it has been. Finding the silver lining, Lee lets us know that said producer will still send pieces to The Daily Planet, and lets us know what all the fuss is about by linking to almost a dozen clips. So, enjoy the video and enjoy the fact that people out there exist who spread the word about green living, environmental issues, fair trade, sustainability, vegetarianism and a host of other important subjects.

That's it. We're taking the big tent down. Thanks for stopping by. If this has merely whetted your appetite for more Carnival of the Green, you can still:

Visit last week's Carnival at GroovyGreen.

Check out next week's Carnival at The Naked Vegetarian.

And if you're feeling the hankering to participate, then check out the Carnival Founders for more info:
CityHippy
TriplePundit

And if even that isn't enough for you, you can find all sorts of other carnivals at:
Truth Laid Bear
BlogCarnival.com

Ciao!

Safe cosmetics

I don't know about you, but I find it really hard to decipher what's healthy and what's not in cosmetic products.  Its pretty overwhelming.  The worst part is that cosmetic companies can put anything toxic into their products, and the FDA cannot require them to do safety testing before putting their products on the market.  Many products labeled Organic still have harmful products in them, such as parabens, a known carcinogen.  So what to do?  There's a great campaign to get cosmetic companies to sign an agreement to provide safe cosmetics.  Their website is Safe Cosmetics, and it is very informative, albeit scary.  A great tool on their site is the Skin Deep interactive tool that lets you type in the product you are interested in, and it gives it a safety grade depending on what the ingredients are.  This is a great service for the public!

Carpooling via social networking?

Groovy Green brings us an innovative use of the latest Web technology: Pooln. What's that?

You've wandered into Pooln — a national community for folks who are interested in carpooling. We're trying a community/social-network approach to carpooling here. Join the experiment!

Cool use of tech? Enter your zip code and sign up to receive an RSS feed that alerts you whenever new carpoolers in your area have also signed up. This is bound to be a hit in SIlicon Valley, where the commutes are terrible and the geekiness-level is high!

Me? I work at home, so have no need. I know, poor me.

Eco-friendly yoga mats

hippyshopper points us to a new option for yoga mats. In truth it had occurred to me that the bright purple mat I use for Pilates seemed a little, shall we say, shiny and synthetic. And so it is. These yoga mats are natural and even biodegradable, which conjures up images for me of doing yoga in the woods and then just leaving your mat there to be absorbed by the forest around it. But then, I'm a bit strange.

My only question is how much the store selling them, yogamatters.com, charges to ship to the US?