Green Cotton

Wondering what to give someone for the holidays? Tired of all the stuff piling up with no more space to put it? Down in the dumps over the economy without much extra cash to spend on gifts?

Well, Brighter Planet has just the solution for you: Give the gift of carbon neutrality for ONE DAY to someone you care about by offsetting all the carbon he or she would typically emit. Brighter Planet has calculated that the average American emits 136 pounds of carbon dioxide each day. Where does this come from?

• About 36 pounds come from driving, flying, and other travel.
• Another 22 pounds come from heating, cooling, and powering our homes.
• The final 78 pounds come from producing, transporting, and disposing of all the stuff we buy, and from shared services like schools and street lights.
• 136 pounds would fill 5,000 balloons — imagine releasing that every day!

For every participant, Brighter Planet will donate 136 pounds of offsets — the equivalent of one day’s worth of CO2 emissions (based on the estimated average American footprint of 24.78 tons).

Help Brighter Planet reach their goal by giving away 5,000 One Day gifts and offset 680,000 pounds of CO2. We’re close, but could use your continued support to get there. Click here to send a gift: http://oneday.brighterplanet.com/users/3844/passes/public/94J-U6Y.

To learn more about Brighter Planet and their carbon offsets, visit here.

A new site has started, Worldchristmastree.com to promote and share Christmas trees worldwide (indoors and out) while pledging to save the forests by donating 80% of all proceeds to the World Land Trust.

The World Land Trust is an international conservation charity (Reg. No. 1001291), based in Halesworth, UK. Founded in 1989 as the World Land Trust (formerly World Wide Land Conservation Trust) has been working to preserve the world’s most biologically important and threatened lands, and has helped purchase and protect over 375,000 acres of habitats rich in wildlife, in Asia, Central and South America and the UK.

Click on their interactive google map and see the largest Christmas Tree in Europe (also featured top) to small tropical trees decorated in Vietnam. Upload your own tree and be a part of the movement to re-invest in preserving forests worldwide.

For what typically is not a very “green” holiday, here is a very easy way to contribute to something worthwhile by simply uploading an image of your tree online. The other neat aspect of this site is that promotes cross-cultural sharing of one communal aspect of the coming holiday season: the Christmas Tree.

Chances are you are going to celebrate the holiday this year in one green way or another and that’s great. Reduce, reuse and recycle. Tell us what you are doing.

Just giving thanks for what we have  - the people in our lives, the roofs over our heads, our health, our well-being, our communities, our food, and whatever else it is in your life that you are thankful for, is where it is at.

In fact, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays from the green perspective. We are asked to stop and think about what we are thankful for, and whether or not nature is on your list, it seems that no matter what way we spin it, Mother Nature is at the heart of it. All the things we can and should be thankful for somehow boil down to Mother Nature– our natural resources including our land, water, air, mountains, desserts etc. In fact, where would we be without these critical elements? The very act of appreciating Mother Nature and all her derivatives by definition provokes environmentalism, and an urge for conservation, so that is why I like this holiday.

Perhaps more so that ever before (given our economic climate), we are more prone to pause, reflect and appreciate that which we have. As such, we are prompted to also think about ways in which we can conserve, reuse and recycle. This is good news, and even better that we are doing it en masse, moving toward greater sustainability and a more long lasting future.

I therefore would like to give thanks right here and right now– for Mother Earth, all our natural resources which we currently have: our waters, lands, mountains, air (those of which are still uncontaminated), our people, animals, communities and hope that we can together, do what it takes to preserve a natural and safe environment for our grandchildren to live.

In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught.

- Baba Dioum, Senegalese conservationist

Green Festivals hosted 5 times a year by Coop America and Global Exchange is one of the biggest eco events in America. Taking place in 5 select cities, the DC Fest will be this Saturday and Sunday at the Convention Center. Tens of thousands are expected to fill the venue, plus hundreds of exhibitors.

If you have never been, I highly recommend attending. It is a HUGE marketplace, community gathering and all around fun time. Featuring new and old companies (including at least 20 in eco-fashion alone), inspirational speakers, musical acts, innovative products, informative exhibits and DELICIOUS food (organic and vegetarian), including tons of samples, you will not be bored.

Last year I attended as my first Green Fest (as an attendee) and had a blast. Staying several more hours than expected, I ended up doing ALL my holiday shopping in one swoop- it was THAT good. Friends and family loved the gifts. What was great too is that I prevented the usual last minute rushes to the mall and other stores by getting it done early - and all gifts were eco-friendly.

TIME:
Saturday November 8th 10am- 7PM
Sunday November 9th 11am – 6pm

PLACE: DC Convention Center (801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, DC 20001

The Festival provides ample opportunity to mix, mingle and sample. You will undoubtedly walk away with new knowledge, new connections and new ideas. Entry fee is $15 per person for all day, including both days if you want.

DC speakers this year include Barbara Ehrenreich, William McDonough, Lester Brown , Herve Kempf as well as Madeline  Kunin among dozens of others.

We are excited to see what is new and hot in the eco-fashion world on behalf of Green Cotton at this event and will report back next week on the details. Stay tuned!

For more information on the Washington DC Green Festivals, visit www.greenfestivals.org/washington-dc-2008/

For information on purchasing tickets click here. Entry fee is $15 per person for all day, both days if desired.

Its pretty darn close to that time of year again when the carved pumpkins, jack o’laterns, spooky goblins and tootsie pops start flowing from every house, home, and door in America. Bundle up and get your costume gear on for some good ole trick o’ treatin’!

For all the chocolate and candy lovers out there, this is likely your favorite holiday of the year. Yes? And for those of you who simply like to dress up, well this is your Big Day, too. But for the eco-savvy sweet tooth, well…you are probably thinking of all the ways you can skirt the jam packed grocery aisles filled with 2-pound bags of high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated vegetable oil processed concoctions. Yikes!

So what options are there to go green (and fair trade)? Well, we here at Green Cotton happen to love chocolate and therefore attempted to dig up some eco-treasures that can satisfy your sweet tooth without having to skip town. Let’s take a look:

Fair Trade and Organic Chocolate Halloween Chocolate

Turns out it is easier than one might think to find chocolate that is BOTH fair trade AND organic: Divine, Equal Exchange, and Taza Chocolate are just a few who dove into Halloween this year.

Equal Exchange is now making “Organic Dark Chocolate Mini’s”! (see above) A perfect size for trick or treaters and a perfect green, and fair trade alternative to mainstream chocolate companies. Equal exchange has also been involved in a movement called “Reverse Trick-or Treating” where they call upon children to educate adults as they make their rounds on Halloween by handing them some fair trade chocolate with information about the children who make the chocolate, or who end up laboring (To see more about reverse trick or treating go to Equal Exchange).

Divine got into the Halloween spirit with “Halloween Milk Chocolate Foils” which includes the very spookey Eerie Eyeballs and ghastly gouls! If you know any 7 – 13 year olds I am sure these will be a hit. ()

Taza Chocolate- These “Direct Traders” can be found in over 100 stores in the metro-Boston Area alone! We love Taza chocolate. See their website for local stores in your area that carry Taza Chocolate!

For more Fair Trade Certified and Organic chocolate producers see our earlier post on organic chocolate.

Why go organic and fair trade?
Organic chocolate production is good for consumers, producers and Mother Nature. Pesticides used in the production of conventional cocoa have only increased over last few decades, particularly due to changed production processes. For example, clear-cutting which has replaced growing deep under tree tops (with protection from sunlight and insects) has led to increased pesticide use. Additionally, rainforest deforestation and single-crop plantings jeopardize the survival of endangered species that live in and depend on tropical habitats such as the ones in which cocoa grows well. Ultimately, the overuse of pesticides affects local air and water quality, impacts worker health and has still unknown effects on consumers. In addition, many of the world’s largest chocolate corporations, such as Mars, maker of M & M’s, have yet to adopt fair trade practices. Many factories and farms employ young children to work the cocoa fields.

Let’s Vote with our Wallets (not to coincide with November 4th!). In 2000, we consumed 3.3 billion pounds of chocolate (13 billion dollars worth) in America. As the largest chocolate consumers in the world, we have surprisingly significant influence over the chocolate industry. Even when we don’t know it, we are voting at the checkout counter. With the increasing availability and lower priced organic and fair trade options available out there, lets give it a shot!

May your Halloween be as eco, green and yummy as can be.