Elisa's Green Scene

Two links for the New Year

I've been a little quiet over the holidays, trying to take an actual break, but I thought i'd share a couple of links I've been hanging on to for a while.

One is a new blog in our hip & zen blog roll, decor8.

decor8 is a blog created and maintained by Holly, a Northeastern design writer and consultant. It claims to be nothing more than a compendium of what she loves and finds creative and beautiful. Since she's got great taste that works out well!

Don't miss: her blog roll, which must be the most comprehensive listing of design-related links I've ever seen, and handily broken down by geographical region too!

Second link: The Honest Kitchen, a place for organic and "human-grade" pet food. It was one of the daily tips from IdealBite, and since I am constantly struggling to find food that is tasty and healthy enough to feed my finicky geriatric cat Samantha, I placed an order for some small packages of cat food, and I'll see how she likes it.

So, those two links don't have much in common, I admit, but they have been sitting open in my browser all week, waiting to be shared with you all.

2 quick links: eco-travel and eco-weddings

Have had these sites bookmarked for a while, so I thought I'd send you off to the holidays with a couple of interesting links:

Quick link #1
Courtesy of VeggieChic: Green Earth Travel.

I see the words "Vegetarian Vacations | Vegetarian Spas | Vegetarian Bed and Breakfast" in their top-level nav and feel my heart go pitter-patter! I am going to plan a round-the-world trip where I hit each of these vegetarian bed and breakfasts.

Where will you go first?

Quick link #2
Courtesy of Treehugger: Portovert E-zine.

I have to say I think the name ain't so great. Am I the only one who immediately thinks "portable pervert"?

Description:

Launching in January 2007, the monthly, online magazine will focus on content that empowers engaged couples with inspiring, eco-chic ideas for engagement parties, bridal showers, weddings and other events. But as the description states, “don’t expect to find inspiration for wheat bundled arrangements and DIY hemp dresses here.” It’s the paperless equivalent to Elegant Bride, Martha Stewart Weddings, and InStyle Weddings. Portovert will demonstrate how to source these “luxe” looks so they’re environmentally (and socially) responsible.

January 2007? I need you now people!!

There you go, something that's too late to have helped you this holiday season, and something that's too early to even review.

I'm very very helpful.

Pet-friendly travel

Hat tip to the simplehuman blog for pointing me towards the site PetFriendlyTravel.com.

I've never traveled with my cat, and I'm not saying she'd like it, but I will admit that concern for her geriatric state makes me reluctant to take long trips away from home. I give her sub-cutaneous fluids every day, so if I'm gone longer than 2 nights I have to arrange with a vet tech from my vet to come help my fiance give her the fluids.

You can search for lodging and dog-friendly parks and beaches. Here's the link to pet-friendly lodging in California. Pickings are kind of slim, but better than somewhere like North Dakota which has one listing for the whole state.

Still, it looks like if you can find a Holiday Inn Express you can find a room for your pet!

Anyway, enjoy...and good luck with the traveling pets!

Vegetarian News...from the sublime to the ridiculous

OK, I just can't resist pointing to some discussion of the fact that a right-wing rag has published a piece saying that soy is "feminizing." Seriously. That the increase of use of soy products is the cause of the "increase of homosexuality" in our society.

Oh, and it's shrinking penises.

I'm not linking directly to the piece, although you can find it in the link I do provide, because I hate giving this psycho any link love. The whole piece is just a complete rant, to which he doesn't bother to append even the slightest bit of data, research or footnoting to support his foundational arguments, let alone his conclusions.

Unbelievable.

In other veggie news, a study has come out saying that veggie adults were smarter children. (Hat tip: Groovy Green)

The study seems extremely confusing to me. Comparing childhood IQ to adulthood diet choices? Really strains the attempt to establish correlation, let alone causation. And then there's the fact that vegans were dumber kids than even the meat eaters.

Hmm.

Another interesting part of this story is the comments on the piece about the study. People are really threatened by vegetarians and vegans, aren't they? Chill, people, we're not going to tie you down and force you to eat anything. Although if we did, we could then extract your liver and sell it as human foie gras :)

OK, that was gross, I admit it. (As is foie gras.)

Ethical Undies

hip & zen carries lots and lots of organic cotton and recycled cashmere clothing, from activewear to fancywear. But I don't think we've yet jumped on the ethical undies bandwagon.

I have found more than one option, the first being the oh-so-normal looking organic cotton boxers pictured above. Available from BTC Elements, the company Cottonfield has a mission that sounds pretty ihp & zen:

"Cottonfield is a company whos ethics are tangible. Organic cotton, good working conditions, and exception quality. Yeumei Shon, started the company five years ago and used her experience in the fashion industry to promote a holistic lifestyle by choosing to use high quality organic fabrics. Their dream as a company is for people to work together to form a strong, healthy global community."

Now if you're looking for something a little more hot to trot, try this lingerie made from a material based on white pine clippings. While there are also options for kids and less provocative styles, they are also definitely trying to go high-end hot. The site is g=9.8, and they are all about sustainable development. Only problem is that their site is pretty hard to navigate. Details, details.

And I know there are some bamboo undies out there to be found too...bamboo being one of the most renewable resources around.

What comes between you and your...organic cotton yoga pants?

Quick link: Me talking ethical engagement rings in the Chron

The article for which I was interviewed came out this morning. More over at my Vegan blog.

Two new hip & zen blogs

Added another two new blogs to our hip & zen blog roll and wanted to call them to your attention.

First is ecofabulous, which is indeed as fabulous as its name suggests. Even their blog masthead makes you feel all eco-wonderful inside. Ecofabulous blogger Zem Joaquin is the Green editor for H&G magazine. I used to get H&G back when I first bought my house and thought I was going to be the next Martha Stewart (only much younger and hipper and less anal, of course.) The only problem is I got H&G along with 10 other home-oriented magazines, and I just couldn't keep up. So, this may sound like I'm just sucking up to a new hip & zen blogger, but seriously, if I was going to re-subscribe to one home magazine H&G would be it. I even bought editor Dominique Browning's book about home-making/nesting through loss and found it so lovely that I gave it as a gift to a friend who was recently divorced, moved cross country and bought her first stand-alone home.

Anyway, that was a bit of a ramble. Suffice to say, I am happy to find ecofabulous, consider me subscribed! I think I can keep up with the blog a bit better than all the magazines.

I've also added DesignTurf to our hip & zen blog roll. This is a blog that is associated with a wonderful site called re:modern, which is a site devoted to "design with integrity." re:modern actually looks to be competitive with hip & zen in some product categories, but not in others, but I am a firm Pollyanna-ish believer that the act that there are more and more sites/stores like this means the market is growing and that there is pent-up demand for more authentic, low-impact living, even while remaining fabulous! I'm eyeing their office furniture myself, since my current arrangement s cramped and creaky. The DesignTurf blog isn't updated mega-frequently, and it is very product-oriented. not always re:modern products, don't get me wrong, but this blog is more about pointing you toward cool things than cool ideas or goings-on.

So, don't forget to check out and visit the wonderful blogs in our hip & zen blog roll in the side bar. And tell them we sent you :)

I gots me a new, cute jacket

I got some stuff from hip & zen yesterday, and amongst the items was my new favorite hip & zen thing: this brown organic cotton jacket/hoodie. It is really cute. Now, granted it doesn't look quite the same on me as it does on this model because I have a bit more substantial of a top shelf, but that just means that is has a slightly different, but equally cute line to it.

I got some other cool stuff too, but this jacket was the one that made me go oooh, ahhh, and rush to blog.

Brilliant Earth is everywhere

Have I mentioned how much I'm enjoying the Ideal Bite daily tip emails. Sure, not every single one is up my alley, but enough of them are that it is probably the only email newsletter to which I subscribe that I actually check out every day. (Yes, yes, I really should unsub from about 2 dozen other newsletters I get.)

So, what should today's tip bring me? A tip about BrilliantEarth.com. They blogged about it too. The movie Blood Diamond is clearly a huge boon for the BE folks. They are everywhere.

And I say more power to them!

Ethical Engagement Rings all the rage

I spent the morning having a conversation with a SF Chronicle reporter about none other than my ethical engagement ring provider, Brilliant Earth.

With the imminent release of the movie Blood Diamond, starring Leo DiCaprio, there is interest in this concept of "conflict-free diamonds." Brilliant Earth asked if we would talk to the Chron about our recent experience with them, and I was happy to do it.

Of course I didn't quite fit the story, since I was researching all of this before I heard about the movie, and I think they story is going to explore whether the movie will impact the traditional African diamond industry.

A couple of interesting things we talked about:

-That the current number one search term that brings people to this blog is "ethical engagement rings." So, it's clearly a current hot topic.

-She asked whether taking jobs away from the African mine workers was the solution. I not only responded that they weren't the ones reaping the financial benefits of the business. But I also gave my standard response when people ask me about the poor folks in the animal slaughter industry and their lost jobs: people make their living selling crack to teenagers too. Just because someone makes a living at something doesn't mean it deserves protection. We do have a global problem with re-training workers. I don't have the answers to that, that's for sure.

Anyway, it's supposed to be in the Sunday business section of the Chron if you're a subscriber.