The Red, White, and Green

Looks like heroin chic has been trumped by green geek: Sustainable style powerhouse Greenloop and other eco trendsetters are hosting Project Green Search, the first green modeling competition, with finals to be held during Portland Fashion Week (Oct. 7-11).

The winner will receive a contract with Option Model Management (as well as NYC/LA representation), publicity in print and online magazines, and a bevy of green goodies — including a makeover, an eco-friendly wardrobe, and a natural beauty shopping spree at Future Natural.

There is no age limit for the contest, though you have to be at least 17 to participate. Entries close Sept. 16, so hustle up and practice that conscientious catwalk strut!

Click here to register.

–Jennifer Grayson

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Yes, that’s right: The Red, White, and Green is jumping on the Whole Foods boycott bandwagon.

How does Whole Foods CEO John Mackey think that “a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense, and low-fat” is somehow going to help the 12.6 million people who have been denied health insurance for a preexisting condition if, heaven-forbid, they get into a car accident and are stuck with thousands of dollars in medical costs? Or if they want to have children but can’t afford the $20,000 hospital price tag? Or if they develop cancer and need chemotherapy?

Oh, I forgot…Mackey doesn’t have to worry about such things. He has a great job (for now) that provides him outstanding health coverage and, up until recently, paid him on average $2.18 million a year.

Take action:
Call Whole Foods World Headquarters at 512.477.4455.
Post to the Whole Foods website.
Boycott Whole Foods on Facebook.

–Jennifer Grayson

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This has been the summer of the eco documentary: Food, Inc. exposes the horrific inner workings of our nation’s food industry; The End of the Line brings light to the catastrophic overfishing of our oceans; and The Cove reveals the senseless slaughtering of 26,000 dolphins a year in Taiji, Japan. And while many at this point may be experiencing a bit of green film fatigue, I’m going to add another one to your must-see list, because it so perfectly encapsulates how we even reached this crisis point at all. The film is called Earth Days.

Directed by Academy Award- and Emmy-nominated director Robert Stone, Earth Days traces the birth of the modern environmental movement — from Rachel Carson‘s provocative and prophetic best-seller Silent Spring through the organization of the first Earth Day celebration in 1970. The film features moving narrative from nine of its pioneers, including Stewart Udall, who served as secretary of the interior in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations; Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart; and renewable energy pioneer Hunter Lovins.

The film’s breathtakingly beautiful visuals of our planet and remarkable footage from the ’50s and ’60s (much of it in color; you won’t see such a vivid depiction of the era outside of Mad Men) are worth the price of admission alone. But what struck me most about Earth Days is how so much environmental change was effected — and then subsequently lost — in a relatively few short decades, and how little I (an environmentalist) actually know about this history.

As a child of the ’80s, I had always assumed that the eco-activist movement was a fringe one; growing up, environmental matters were rarely mentioned in the political arena or as a top concern of everyday Americans, and were relegated to the bottom of the issue list — below terrorism and Iraq and the economy and the “declining morals” of American society. Caring about our planet was for tree huggers and veggie burger–eating types.

But this wasn’t always so. In Earth Days, we see that the environmental movement had become a powerful force in the early ’70s: A whopping 10 percent of the US population organized and marched for the first Earth Day in 1970. Environmental action was embraced by Republicans and Democrats alike (former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey is featured in the film), and a slew of progressive legislation followed — the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. President Carter even had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House. But then, the political culture suddenly changed, and with it went support for the environmental coalition; in 1986, President Regan had the solar panels removed and they were never replaced. 

How did so many of us forget this? How did we not see the interconnectedness of it all?

Now, nearly 30 years later, the environmental force for change has finally, once again, reached critical mass, and we now have the political landscape and the American will to truly shift the direction of this country — and the world. But we can’t afford to squander another day: Earth Days, and its poignant lesson of how quickly we could lose it all again, should be required watching for us all.

–Jennifer Grayson

Earth Days opens today. Find a theater near you. 

Related posts:
The Huffington Post: The Cove: Why Is the Japanese Government Hell-Bent on Killing Dolphins?
The Red, White, and Green: Go see: The End of the Line
The Red, White, and Green: Eco date night: Go see Food, Inc.

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Eco-friendly fashion is very much à la mode for this fall, from established high-end labels like Yves Saint Laurent recently unveiling its “New Vintage” collection that recycles fabrics from past YSL designs, to online clotheshorse destination Shopbop.com featuring an entire “Earth Friendly” category on its site.

And while sustainable manufacturing processes and fabrics are something I’d certainly like to see more of (conventionally grown cotton uses 25 percent of the world’s insecticides and more than 10 percent of the world’s pesticides), my green fashion philosophy stems more toward buying well-crafted items that you can love, wear, and repair for years to come. A beautiful classic handbag that you can hand down to your daughter is a far more sustainable investment than a dozen trendy organic cotton tops that may never make it past this season.

So imagine my thrill when I  stumbled across this fun featurette in the September issue of Glamour:

Added bonus: You’ll have an easier time sticking to that recession budget. And don’t feel bad about “shopping your closet,” as fashion magazine editors like to say; green- and budget-conscious fashionistas have been wearing recycled clothes for years (we just call them “vintage”). 

–Jennifer Grayson

Related posts:
The Red, White, and Green: The careful consumer
The Huffington Post: Why Quality Matters, Even in Tough Times

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Last week, when I wrote about the recent Albert Einstein College of Medicine study that revealed that 70 percent of US children are low in vitamin D — putting them at increased risk for cancer, thyroid disorders, even heart disease and obesity — I half-joked that it wouldn’t be long before Kraft and Kellogg caught wind of the report and started fortifying Velveeta and Pop-Tarts with the vitamin. Well, I was wrong about one thing: the company. Way to respond with lightning speed to this public health crisis, General Mills! (Click on image below to see the “Grow Up Strong” website in all its greenwashing glory.)

Here, honey: We don’t want you to become obese because of low vitamin D levels, so gobble up this bowl of sugar/corn syrup/Red 40-laden Lucky Charms! I mean, nothing encourages good health like marshmallows for breakfast. 

A general rule of truly healthy eating is that if something is fortified, it’s because the food itself is lacking in nutritional value. If you really care about your kids’ vitamin D levels and their overall well-being, skip the sugary cereals and tell them to go play outside in the sunshine. 

–Jennifer Grayson

Related posts:
70 percent of US children low in vitamin D
Get your 15 minutes

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It’s always been a dream of mine to have a tree house. Well, not a house in a tree per se, but a small sustainable home nestled in the bosom of a piney wilderness. It would be my family’s own little hideaway, where we’d go to breathe the fresh air and listen to birds chirp and do all the wonderful sorts of simple things that we rarely get to do since the advent of text messaging and BlackBerrys and Facebook.

Where this home will be situated exactly, I haven’t yet figured out. But like a bride who’s found her dress but not her groom, I have found the house!

The sustainable pre-fab home, dubbed Sommerhaus Piu (“more summerhouse”) by its German creators, industrial designer Patrick Frey and architect Björn Götte, offers nearly 650 square feet of indoor living space and a 376-square-foot canopied terrace, which is about the size of a very generous one-bedroom apartment in New York City (although I don’t know of many NYC one bedrooms with that large of a patio — or a patio at all, for that matter). And with that much beauty surrounding you, how much space inside do you really need, anyway?

Some eco stats about the house:

• Made of partially recycled materials
• Large windows encourage use of natural light
• No foam insulation; cotton insulation is used for windows
• High energy efficiency
• Strip foundation minimizes impact on surroundings
• Roof can be turned into a “green” roof or fitted with solar panels

Sommerhaus Piu was designed to be an affordable option for a summer/weekend home, and at 110.000€ (at last check, about $156,000 US) and constructed to last, I think I’ll file it away in my “maybe one day achievable fantasy” drawer.

Want to see more photos of Sommerhaus Piu and/or contact the designer? Click here.

–Jennifer Grayson

Update: Sommerhaus Piu might not be so prefabulous after all.

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Always on the lookout for new veggie chili recipes, I stumbled across Niktor’s Rootin’ Tootin’ Chili recipe on the Meatless Monday site and was intrigued. It packs the additional protein punch of tofu, which I’ve never added to chili before — I’m interested to see how it turns out.

The recipe title is a bit scary, but it sounds delicious nonetheless. (I think I won’t mention the name to our dinner guests tonight, and just emphasize instead that I’ll be whipping up a pile of piping hot cornbread.)

–Jennifer Grayson

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Two Joint Task Force 129 crews on board HH-60G Pave Hawks fly over Crystal Beach, TX, on Sept. 13, 2008. The JTF 129 crews rescued 48 people and pets stranded in the Galveston area; Photo via Flickr: Simminch

More evidence that caring about the environment is, indeed, patriotic, and that our government’s failure to recognize this soon may lead to a very grim future for our country: An article that appeared this past weekend in The New York Times warns of the grave national security challenges that our country will face as a result of global warming. And it’s not only our reliance on Middle Eastern oil that we have to worry about; food shortages, drought, destructive weather events, pandemics — even new borders to defend as a result of the shrinking Arctic ice cap — will place an increasing strain on the US military.

Such climate-induced crises could topple governments, feed terrorist movements, or destabilize entire regions, say the analysts, experts at the Pentagon and intelligence agencies who for the first time are taking a serious look at the national security implications of climate change…. This argument could prove a fulcrum for debate in the Senate next month when it takes up climate and energy legislation passed in June by the House.

While it’s all well and good that some members of the US military and Congress are finally waking up to this — a full four years after the national security catastrophe that followed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina — one has to marvel at the length of time it’s taken the intelligence community to connect the dots. In 2004, the United Nations began studying the links between global warming and war; in 2007, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon blamed drought as a factor in the genocide in Darfur; and in 1992, political writer Thomas Homer-Dixon (then a professor at the University of Toronto) wrote an op-ed piece for the NYT entitled “As Resources Are Wasted, Mass Violence Will Rise.”

Read the NYT article here. 

–Jennifer Grayson

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It’s only August, and already eco-documentary/thriller The Cove is receiving Oscar buzz for its moving portrayal of the ongoing dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan — not to mention its heroic filmmaking, for which the crew literally risked life and limb. The movie, which opened in New York City and Los Angeles last weekend (which is when I saw it; living in Smogville does have its advantages), hits theaters nationwide today.

The action-packed narrative of the film, billed as a real-life Ocean’s Eleven, will thrill you, even if you purport to be neither animal lover nor environmentalist (although you may change your mind about both of those by the time the end credits roll).

Want to learn more about the movie? Read my in-depth review of The Cove on The Huffington Post.

Want to help spread the word? Check out these cool viral videos and post them to your social media flavor of choice.

–Jennifer Grayson

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I try to make every week farmers market week, but here’s your excuse to visit one if you’ve as of yet been reluctant: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has proclaimed Aug. 2-8 National Farmers Market Week. 

While we’re already halfway through this glorious celebration of local, fresh fare, it isn’t too late to stop by one in your area. The USDA website offers a handy search tool to locate a farmers market in your state. 

Never been to one before? Need to brush up on your shopping tips? Check out our handy video on how to make the most of your farmers market excursion:

–Jennifer Grayson

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