Elisa's Green Scene

Quick link: Greening a doctor's office

Since I also (somewhat intermittently, I admit) blog about health over at Healthy Concerns, I thought the following post was about too appropriate and too good to be true:

Going Green in the Physician's Office, a guest post by an anonymous physician on Kevin MD.

Little things, but if changed in doctor's offices all over the country, you gotta believe it could make a difference, right?

Adorable recycled stuff...is it most eco-friendly stuff?

See that necklace, made from "misprinted or discontinued MTA maps"? I love it. Think it's the most adorable thing. Hat tip to Great Green Goods for pointing me to them.

And there are many other adorable things out there in a similar vein...made from old typewriter keys, Mahjong tiles and the like.

But does anyone else wonder like I do whether turning such materials into individual jewelry pieces IS really the most eco-friendly use of said materials?

I mean, let's say said materials were actually processed and turned into larger, usable items...it's the thought of splitting them up into many many small items that then have to get bought and shipped to many many locations. This is what bothers me.

Does anyone else have weird thoughts like that...or am I a special sort of cynic?

Well, crap, another brand to kick out of my fridge

I'm an Odwalla fan, but occasionally I also indulge in the juices of Bolthouse Farms...both their protein drinks and their Vedge vegetable juice are pretty good, and Whole Paycheck seems to carry a lot more of their flavors than they do Odwalla.

But now I've learned that the eponymous owner of Bolthouse Farms donates to a cause that I am appalled by. [Sources: Huffington Post and The Bilerico Project]

William Bolthouse doesn't think gays should have the right to marry. And I do. And WB goes far enough to give lots of hard-earned Bolthouse Juice-derived money to groups that will try to stem the tide of progress and change in California and revoke that right.

And to quote Hall and Oates: I can't go for that. No-ooh-whoa.

So, Bolthouse Farms, you are now officially not welcome in my fridge. You may be organic, but you are homophobic. End of story.

Eco-friendly and highly personalized business cards

Just in time for BlogHer, hippyshopper alerts me to the fact that MooCards is launching a range of Eco-Friendly Business cards this week.

Not just in time for BlogHer: apparently Moo is making some changes, and their site is down!!! Oh noes!

That is a damn shame because not only are MooCards unique, personalized and affordable, they had a special discount offer available for BlogHers, courtesy of the enterprising Velveteen Mind.

So, while I was excited to pass on both the discount and the fact that they had launched a new eco-friendly version of their MooCards, turns out my timing couldn't be worse.

Well, bookmark it. I'm sure they'll be back and just as handy soon.

Striking Animal Photography

I don't think I've ever seen animal photography quite like that found at Catherine's Animals before. [Hat tip: decor8]

Featuring the work of Catherine Ledner, these whimsical shot of animals literally from A (as in alligator) to Z (as in Zebra) are set against different wall coverings, and on a variety of floor coverings. It is hard to imagine that she literally brought all of these animals into her studio and shot them against the apparent backgrounds, but there is no answer on her About page as to technique or methodology.

The prices range from $250 for a small 11x14 print to $1700 for a 32x40 print. not being a photography collector I have no idea if these prices are reasonable or on the high end, but in perusing her gallery, or rather menagerie, I can say I'm tempted to find out!

Well, I went with a restaurant review

After hemming and hawing, quite publicly, about what to contribute to the blog SF Bay Style, since I had been so kindly invited to lend my perspective to their group blog, I finally published my first post:

A restaurant review of hip and hidden-away San Francisco restaurant, Le Colonial.

Of course from the vegan perspective.

Bottom line: Le Colonial treated me very well. You want more details, you'll have to hop over to SF Bay Style.

What's a hippie, green vegan to do?

I've been invited to occasionally guest post on the SF Bay Style Blog, run by a few stylish and lovely bloggers I know. They read my blogs, but I think it was the vegan perspective that they felt would be interesting to add to their voices there on the site.

Basically I can blog very rarely, even monthly, since this is a group blog.

Following is their stated mission:

The mission of SFBayStyle is to provide quality coverage about everything we love that's unique about style found in the San Francisco Bay Area. We hope to provide something fun for those who live or visit here - fashion, arts, music, events, dining, wine, shopping, and design. SFBayStyle is an ecclectic mix of classic, vintage, trendy, techie, and eco-friendly. We believe strongly in supporting local businesses and worthy causes, so our site reflects that commitment.

Run on a blogging platform, we develop our content to combine brief information like sale alerts, tips and trends, resources, and photos with detailed articles on local interest topics, special events, designer interviews and a variety of reviews, making SFBayStyle feel like a blend between an online magazine and a blog. A collaborative venture, we strive to include stories that appeal to many different groups of people and as we grow, we look forward to reaching out further. We're all grateful to live and work here and we hope that SFBayStyle will be viewed as a worthy representation of the style of people who share our home.

I'm finding myself stressing over just getting started. I'm not exactly a style maven...what do I bring to the table? Even when I dine out, all vegan-like, we're not talking high-end cuisine providers here.

I know it's probably one of those things where I just need to start typing and see where it leads, but I wanna represent, you know what I mean?

So, if you're a hippie, green, veg*n like me, what would you add to a blog about SF Bay Area Style?

"We can be stylish and environment conscious in the same time"

I got an email from Fani Lioe from FaniSong Jewelry. She urged me to check out her new line of jewelry made from recycled glass and nature photography.

A lot of it is really very pretty, and very affordable. Here's the Esty store for this line of work.

I was a little afraid of the cord...would it be leather? But actually you can choose between ribbon or a suede cord, so we're good there.

I have yet to fall to the siren song of Etsy like some folks I know, but stores like this may just reel me in.

Danny Seo calls Palmolive on a little bit of Greenwashing...and I don't mean dishes

Hey, I'm all for traditional companies finding ways to go green, but Danny Seo points out a bit of packaging sleight-of-hand with the new Palmolive "Eco", which is really no different than the Palmolive non-eco (except for the fact that it doesn't point out its eco-ness.)

What I haven't been able to find is whether the Eco costs more than the same size non-eco?

I checked out Amazon Grocery and Safeway.com, and neither carries both Eco and non-Eco in the same size. How annoying is that?

Anyway, I don't mind a little update to a product's marketing approach or copy. I only mind if they try to get us to pay more for what what always there.

What do you think?

Two (relatively) new green sites

OK, there are two relatively new Green clearinghouse sites that we should all check out, if for no other reaso than to choose! (I mean, how much green content can one greenie read?)

First up, and around a little longer: EarthFirst.com

Looks like it's been around 4 months or so. And their mission is, shall we say, strongly stated as follows:

We are passionate about the environment and dedicated to cutting through the eco-fluff to get to the heart of the new green movement. We think there are a lot of greenwashers and opportunists out there who could care less about actively doing some good in the world, and we’re going to be all over them out here on our blog and in our soon-to-be-released video shows. We think green should be fun and cool, and are in love with the power of sarcasm and snark. Greenwashers and jerkasses of the world: beware. We’re watching.

I'm not sure how much overlap there is between "sarcasm and snark" and actual passion and activism...this site aims to push that envelope.

What I do like is that, unlike so many sites that pretend they're bloggy, but are really quite traditional, they put community right up front where you can see it. Their tag cloud and recent comments are right up top, above the fold.

Now, if they could make it a little easier to find their RSS feeds? I might actually subscribe.

Not so cool is the prominence of their "25 Hottest Girls in Green" feature.

Really?

"Hottest"?

"Girls"

Bleh.

At least give me the hottest people in both genders. WTF?

Second up: The Huffington Post's new Green sub-site

Like the rest of the HuffPo they are writer-focused, not really community-focused. They don't quite have the celebrity star-power that they launched the original HuffPo with, but at this point the HuffPo has more than established its credibility from a content point of view, so it's cool. I see some favorite eco-bloggers, and just some cool folks writing for them.

The HuffPo Green site is also annoying about finding its feed, mostly because it looks like they haven't added it to their syndication page yet.

So have you checked these two green clearinghouse sites out yet? Are you goig to follow one or the other, or both?

Or would you rather just see all your green options in one place, like on Alltop's green site?

Reviews? Opinions? Recommendations?