August 4th, 2008
Davines’ NouNou hair care may not contain 100 percent organic ingredients. Nor is it easy to pronounce. But more product makers should follow the cue of this hair care line, which comes packaged in thinner plastic. Davines, based in Parma, Italy, sells NouNou in malleable tubs and bottles made of 30 percent less plastic than the average bottle of conditioner, according to company spokesman Jorge Blanco. Squeeze the soft tubs and you can imagine they take less recycling time.
NouNou is also Davines first “zero-impact” product in the company’s 25-year history, Blanco said. That means that Davines has bought carbon offsets through the Italian green-living conglomerate Lifegate, which plants trees in Costa Rica to balance the emissions created by the NouNou hair care line. It’s a nebulous claim for many companies, but Blanco said: “We planted 85,000 square meters of new forest in Costa Rica last year.”
As for its efficacy? NouNou’s “nourishing illuminating” shampoo with Chestnut milk doesn’t inspire an extra finger-twirl in your hair. But the line’s “nourishing illuminating” conditioner with tomato extract and vitamin F softens dry hair and smells like sweet almond butter. Highly recommended.
Posted in hair care, beauty, personal care | No Comments »
May 27th, 2008
By Stefanie Olsen
Last week I met Suzanne Thompson, vice president of research in Clorox’s cleaning division and the material scientist who helped lead development of the company’s new line of plant-based cleaning products, Green Works. She and I shared lunch at an environmental conference, so I took the opportunity to ask her how sales were going and if the company plans to “green” other Clorox products, i.e., change formulations for non-biodegradable or synthetic goods.
No, she replied, in answer to the question of transforming existing Clorox products. Consumers need goods like bleach for home sterilization purposes, Thompson said. What’s more, she said, the demand on natural resources like Palm oil or coconut extracts used to make Green Works (which is formulated from 99 percent plant- or mineral- based ingredients) can cause shifts or shortages in food markets, much like we’re seeing with corn crops related to ethanol production.
It’s an interesting argument, one that surely holds some truth. But it’s also a typically cautious argument for a traditional consumer-package-goods company that’s in the cross hairs of a new environmental movement. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in kitchen, home | 2 Comments »
April 27th, 2008
By Alorie Gilbert
Can you relate to Katherine Heigl in the movie 27 Dresses? Even if just one or two bridesmaids garments are gathering dust in your closet, take a look at Donatemydress.org.
The site, just launched by publishing giant Hearst, offers a national directory of organizations that collect special occasion dresses for teens in need of prom gowns that won’t break the bank. The site also provides details on upcoming dress drives (prom season is underway!) and giveaways, and features photos of teens in donated duds.
I applaud Hearst, publisher of Seventeen and Cosmogirl, for promoting dress donation, but why not take it a step further? Why not tell gals that recycled dresses aren’t just easy on the wallet, they’re easy on the earth, too.
Find out where to donate your old frocks here.
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April 22nd, 2008
On this Earth day–my first with Divine Green–I didn’t want to write about how to green your life or the many promising environmental initiatives that launched today. Thankfully, those topics were well covered in the mainstream press. Rather, I wanted to share a recent NPR “moment” that caused me to shift my thinking about conservation. (An NPR moment is the habit of staying in the car longer than intended just to listen to an engaging program on National Public Radio.)
The interview was with Arun Gandhi, the grandson of the Indian spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. Now a teacher of nonviolent practices himself (although he’s run into some issues in the world community of late), Arun was describing his experience with his grandfather as a young boy, after having thrown out a nearly worn-out pencil. Gandhi asked after the pencil, and when Arun replied that he had disposed of it, his grandfather told him to go find it. “But it’s nighttime,” Arun protested.
So Gandhi handed him a flashlight.
Read the rest of this entry »
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March 19th, 2008
Recycling old cell phones or digital cameras just got a little easier. The U.S. Postal Service said this week that residents of Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego–among 10 U.S. cities that are part of a pilot program–can drop by their local post office and use a postage-paid envelope to send small electronics like iPods and personal digital assistants away for recycling. (Clover Technologies Group, the recipient, pays for the postage so that it can refurbish or recycle the goods.)
Companies like Green Citizen offer a similar service in cities like San Francisco for a small fee, but if the post office’s “mail back” program takes off, many more people could get rid of their electronics without harming the environment. The post office, which uses packages and envelopes that are made of nearly 100 percent recycled material, said it aims to launch the program nationally if it gets off the ground, so to speak.
Posted in technology, recycling | No Comments »
March 12th, 2008
Tract homes are turning eco-chic, at least in a small town outside of London. British architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners has designed a 145-unit housing development in England that could be a future model for efficient housing around the world. The two-story homes, which are between 700 and 1,400 square feet, feature a modern twist on the English chimney: the Ecohat.
Sounds like something a hippie would put on in winter, but the EcoHat is an aluminum structure (painted bright red) that contains powerful solar panels and an airflow system to optimize energy consumption inside the home. Sitting on the spine of the house like a chimney and angled toward the sun, the Ecohat filters fresh air coming into the building for natural air-conditioning and reuses hot air circulating through the stack to power a hot water system.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in building, design, home | No Comments »
March 5th, 2008
Egg shells, cucumber peels, fajita leftovers–they often don’t find their way into the recycling can because of the messiness and stink factor (if people even own a compost bin). In fact, food waste is the No. 1 least recycled material in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency; and yet it and paper goods comprise the bulk of landfills. That waste, which can’t breakdown naturally for lack of oxygen in the landfill, adds to our global warming headaches because it produces more carbon than necessary.
San Francisco-based NatureMill wants to rectify this problem by bringing composting to the masses. In recent weeks, it introduced a line of automatic home compost bins that take some of the ickyness and inconvenience out of turning food into fertilizer. Read the rest of this entry »
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February 20th, 2008
By David Rittenhouse 
TOKYO–One recent morning while I was hurrying into Shinjuku station here to catch the metro, I stopped at Starbucks for a small coffee and one of those really tasty sweet brown rice scones that they have in Japan.
When I finished my breakfast on-the-go I took my plastic tray with ceramic plate and paper cup to the return point/trash bin and had a sudden moment of conscientiousness. There were at least five different holes into which to separate and place the garbage–paper cups, plastic cups, tops, ice-liquids, other combustible and non-combustible items. (The Japanese government requires the recycling measures.)
This got me thinking. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in design, environment, food and drink, recycling | No Comments »
February 19th, 2008
The children’s book world has a new darling called Bloom, the story of a pig who suffers unrequited love by a flower, only to later find its ideal mate. The book is newly on sale at Amazon.com and Pottery Barn Kids.
Bloom’s creator Maria van Lieshout shares the character’s love of nature. When a child in Holland, van Lieshout was taught to consider the environment every day while recycling and turning off the household lights, so she naturally chose organics when designing Bloom clothes for babies. Her onesie’s and baby Ts are made of 100 percent organic cotton from the U.S. clothing manufacturer American Apparel, which makes its soft-cotton Ts in the United States, thereby reducing the carbon footprint from manufacturing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
February 18th, 2008
Lake Mead, the U.S.’s largest manmade lake on the Nevada-Arizona border, has a 50 percent chance of going dry by 2021 if local population demands and global warming trends continue unchecked, according to a study last week from scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. That’s especially alarming news considering that Lake Mead, a body of water created by the Hoover Dam and the Colorado River, provides about 90 percent of the drinking water to Las Vegas, as well as a portion to southwest cities like Los Angeles and agricultural groups.
The forecast particularly highlights the precarious situation of a major city residing in the desert. Golf courses, unnatural residential lawns and ornate water fountains around Las Vegas are among massive drains on the water supply.
One of the ways Las Vegas authorities are trying to address issues of sustainability and educate the public on conservation is through a recent project called the Springs Preserve Sustainability Center, which opened last May. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in research, environment | 2 Comments »