Local Harvest Local Food Locator

What a great online widget! When you visitLocalharvest.org you simply enter your zip code and voila, a list of products from farms near you. The have all sorts of foods that you can either order for delivery, pick up at the farm or they'll ship it to you with less footprint than the shipping to Safeway's distribution center, then to your local Safeway branch. Less refrigerated trucks, less of all the bad stuff, and you can support small growers in the process. Check it out, you may learn something about your neighbors. I guess near my home, there's tones of honey makers, almonds, beans, sausages and Emu burgers!!

Viva Terra

Chunky sweaters, luscious wraps and a bunch of accessories for you and the home, Viva Terra offers up something for everyone and all of it is eco friendly. Healthy bedding, recycled glass dinnerware, luxurious robes and scarves. Check out this sustainable shop at Viva Terra

Indigenous Designs Corp

From the Wall Street Journal:

Indigenous Designs Corp. prides itself as a truly green supplier. Its women's clothing is made from all-natural, sustainable materials, such as organic cotton, silk and alpaca. It adheres to strict fair-trade manufacturing practices overseas, runs its U.S. corporate office on solar power and encourages employees to bike to work.

Now that's what I'm talking about! A company that demands a change at every level, from the individual employee, to the office setting and through the production line. What a great example!! To help make their story a success, you can buy their wares at Dillards REI and Whole Foods or visit their website.

Timberland's footprint

Timberland is putting "nutrition" labels on their wares to help consumers understand the impact of their buy choices. They are an outdoor brand and hence they must be committed to environmental stewardship. They are making an effort to reduce their footprint and with such transparency as to set an example for other companies and for their customers. The labels also outline the impact their production has on the local community.

THINKING LIKE AN ECONISTA
This smells like green washing to me.... transparency made to look like they're doing something, when really, it's just a label that we must trust is accurate. Their website claims that they reduced their greenhouse gases by 10%, are using water-based adhesives on 8million shoes and tripled their used of organic cotton ( although you can by only 5 garments made from OC from their site). Plus, they're making tools to measure how they're affecting the environment. This sounds like a decent start, but I'd like to see more about recycled poly fleece, recycled rubber for souls, how about making some stuff on this continent instead of in asia to reduce the carbon footprint.... There are a lot of things that I hope they will do in the near future.

Flocks

I couldn't resist this hand knitted 100% wool rug from Flocks. This company hands knits all of it's garments and knows the exact sheep the wool was sheared from (the photo book shows 4 of the 18 sheep who's wool the rug is made). Since one sheep supplies exactly enough wool for one sweater, each sweater is tagged with a specific animal’s ID number, and comes with a certificate: the animal's passport. Information provided includes breed, weight, year and place of birth, and a picture of the sheep. They currently use undyed, natural colored wools, but they will soon use veg dyes in future collections. This is a wonderful idea, a way of bringing the process of making cloths closer to the consumer. Although their sweaters go for ~$400, what better way to connect with a more traditional way of living, without up and moving (or knitting one yourself).

No Impact Man

My new favorite blog... his name is Colin Beavan :

noimpactman

For one year, my wife, my 2-year-old daughter, my dog and I, while living in the middle of New York City, are attempting to live without making any net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets…

And I thought I was doing all I can by changing some light bulbs, taking the train instead of driving, using my canvas bag when shopping and buying local foods... I guess I could go off the deep end, or just read his blog and contemplate taking the leap.

Etsy items inspired by nature

mkwind

seaurchine

jekbot

marrion's shop

misslo

Emmapardos

honeybee