divine green: Sustainable Home, Beauty, & Lifestyle

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. (more…)

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.

(more…)

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. (more…)

Evite and greeting-card sites have seemingly done wonders for the environment with respect to saving paper. But sometimes the electronic note can’t replace a holiday card or paper invitation—especially when it comes to occasions like weddings, baby showers or graduation. Don’t sacrifice the green. Send a handmade recycled-paper card that when planted grows into a wildflower. Botanical Paperworks and Plantable Paper both sell customizable seeded cards, invitations and giftwrap. Once potted, planted and watered, the pulp mulches down into the soil and the seeds can turn into California bluebells or another flower within a month. Now that’s a gift.

Can Clorox–a brand synonymous with synthetic bleach–green-ify its business? That’s an increasingly important question as major corporations known for polluting the environment try to capitalize on consumer demand for healthier, more eco-friendly goods. For example, L’Oreal, which was recently named one of the 10 worst luxury brands (story here) by environmental measures, owns natural body care lines the Body Shop and Kiehls.

But Clorox is an emblem of the eco shift, having just launched a line of plant-derived biodegradable cleaning products called Green Works to challenge companies like Method and Mrs. Meyers–early success stories in the earth-friendly cleaning business. (Clorox said that Green Works will be in stores this month.) And in November, Clorox bought Burt’s Bees for a hefty $913 million.

(more…)

TOKYO–”Eco” as fashion statement has definitely hit Japan’s capital–a jam-packed city of 8 million-plus, not including outlying areas.

Just visit one of Tokyo’s most eclectic home-shopping stores, Tokyo Hands, located in Shibuya. It’s eight floors of do-it-yourself and oddball items ranging from teak wood slabs for making your own coffee table to plastic toe stretchers. It’s also sprinkled with the latest environmentally friendly goods.

Here I found these “Eco Home Kitchen Bags” from Benetton–a rainbow-colored tastemaker in the 80s. A reusable bag for grocery shopping, the eco sack rolls up into a tiny case that you can port around in a pocket or stick to the refrigerator when not in use. Doubtful you can find this exact product in the United States, but similar gear is common in cities like San Francisco, which just banned the use of plastic bags in major grocery stores.

(more…)

Homeowners and future homebuyers are among those in the best position to make a difference to global warming. That’s because buildings–their energy production in heating and cooling–are the single largest contributor to global warming, producing an estimated 48 percent of the world’s heat-trapping gases, followed by the transportation industry at roughly 30 percent.

That’s why it might make sense to bone up on the tips and tricks offered in the new book, “Green Building for Dummies.”

Admittedly I’m not a fan of “…For Dummies” guides, because on principle it’s not dumb to delve into a subject and learn as much as you can. This book’s author, Eric Corey Freed, a San Francisco-based architect of sustainable living spaces, is highly respected in his field and definitely smart.

Corey Freed says that homeowners can get the most bang for their buck in their home’s energy efficiency by improving its insulation. 

(more…)

Green gifts are certainly chic this holiday. Every media outlet ranging from House and Garden to Plenty has an eco-gift guide for the environmental shopper. Even chi-chi department store Barneys went green this year, with recyclable shopping bags and an eco-themed catalog. (I’m not sure $1,000 for a grocery-store handbag is the best way to go about conservation, but the idea is right.)

So what is the average eco-minded person looking for in a gift this year? Well, to start with, soap.

Lucas Heldfond, owner of San Francisco’s Spring, a store that sells earth-friendly home accents, said that many people are making their own gift baskets this year with Mrs. Meyers’ aromatherapy dish soap, countertop spray and all-purpose cleaner–products that don’t use toxic chemicals. Given that the packaging should be reusable, too, the products come in a bowl made of sustainable bamboo. The gift is thoughtful and useful, he said.

“What’s nice about green gifting is there’s a very practical side,” Heldfond said. “Dish soap isn’t typically a consumer gift, but this year, it’s chic.”

(more…)

After the kids grow up (or grow out of whatever fit last month), parents are left with a glut of stuff—Baby Bjorns, cradle swings, snuglis. Some parents hand down the bounty to friends or family, while others store the goods in the basement (just in case). But a growing group of parents are turning to grassroots Web sites to unload unwanted items and alleviate their consumer guilt.

Zwaggle.com, which I wrote about here, is a social network designed to let parents donate baby goods to others in need. In exchange for charity, that member will earn points to pick up something else from another parent. Members pay only for shipping for their desired item.

(more…)

Metropolitan cities are setting the example this year on decorating with eco-Christmas lights. San Francisco this weekend, followed by Paris on Monday, lit massive holiday trees with mini light-emitting diode bulbs, which burn brighter than typical bulbs and emit no heat. The LEDs consume about 90 percent less electricity than typical lights and can last as many as 20 holiday seasons.

Paris’s tree on the Champs-Elysees was donned with close to 1 million new LED bulbs, according to a story from the Associated Press. A joint project by General Electric and French gas company Gaz de France, the energy efficient lights are expected to cut the city’s electricity bill by 70 percent for the holiday tree over previous years.

(more…)