Goodlifer

Carrotmobbing

As the old saying goes, there are two ways to make a donkey walk forward: offer a delicious carrot in front of it, or hit its behind with a stick. Bad behavior should be punished but, more importantly, good behavior should be rewarded. This is the guiding principle of carrotmobbing. It’s very simple: a group of people gather (using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter) at a retail or service establishment that has agreed to put a set percentage of the day’s proceeds toward environmental improvements and buy their wares. continue reading

Massa Organics: Wholesome Rice

Time and again, I’ve heard it said that all products need a good story behind them. Here is a great story. In 1916, Manuel Fonseca planted rice near Chico, CA. In 1997, Fonseca’s great-grandson, Greg Massa, returned from Costa Rica with his wife Raquel Krach. Both had been university-based tropical biologists in central America, but they wanted to be able to engage in hands-on conservation, so they returned to the family farm. cont.

Food Rules: Answering the Question “What Should I eat?”

Whenever I get up on my soapbox and start talking to my friends and family about the pitiful state of our food system, the one thing they always ask me is “so what should I eat then?” This is not an easy one to answer since something bad can be said about virtually anything we stick out forks into. cont.

Red Truck Bakery

Before Brian Noyes started baking for a living, he was the Art Director of several national magazines including Smithsonian and House & Garden. When a new job took him to Washington, D.C. Noyes and a friend bought a small farm in the Virginia village of Orlean, 50 miles west of the capital. They planted fruit trees and roamed the countryside in a red 1954 Ford farm truck that Noyes bought from fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger. cont.

Vaute Couture: Vegan Winterwear

Possibly the hardest item of clothing for devoted vegans to find is outerwear. We rarely think about the fact the most winter coats contain some form of animal product, be it leather, fur, or even wool. Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, designer of Chicago-based “activist fashion label” Vaute Couture, spent eight months doing textile research and development in order to bring us the handsome, well-tailored line presented at The GreenShows during New York Fashion Week. cont.

Who wants a garden at City Hall?

Public Gardens seem to be on everyone’s mind since Michelle Obama planted her organic garden at The White House. The idea, however, may not have been hers. TheWhoFarm (The White House Organic Farm Project) began as a “non-partisan, petition-based initiative to respectfully request that our 44th President oversee the planting of an organic farm on the grounds of The White House, our nation’s First Home, at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, DC.” cont.

Sensible Foods – Crunch Dried Snacks

Be honest, now. Do you get in enough servings of fruits and vegetables every day? I’m one of the most food-conscious people I know, and I still don’t eat as much produce as I should. And if you’re the parent of a kid or a teen, you know how tough it can be to keep the offspring on the dietary “straight and narrow.” Well, I’ve found something that makes this daily struggle just a little easier. cont.

NYFW: Ekovaruhuset / House of Organic

On the final day of The GreenShows during New York Fashion Week, Ekovaruhuset / House of Organic showed their new collections. It is technically Fall/Winter, but the House of Organic does not really depend on the seasons the way the big fashion houses do; they don’t even depend on trends. The timeless, ethereal, fair made creations are as timeless as they are beautiful. cont.

Recycled Couture at NY Fashion Week

It’s the time of teetering heels again. Uncomfortable, spectacular footwear takes over the streets as the Bryant Park tents fill with fashion’s A-listers for the last time. Meanwhile The GreenShows, this year housed at 311 E 11: Village Green, turns the spotlight to sustainably inclined designers. Opening night Gary Harvey, former Creative Director of Levi Strauss, sent spectacular recycled couture creations down the runway. cont.

Found Textiles and Biodiversity

The threads of cultural identity seem to find us no matter how far away from home we may wander, and though it may not be particularly fashionable to wear your place of origin on your sleeve, this might be finally changing with an upsurge in recycled textile and ethnic embroidery in eco fashion collections. A new wave of resourceful designers are re-invigorating native textiles by fashioning them into wearable and culturally chic garments. cont.

LOVE

I hear you coming,
footsteps that echo from the hall
I wait patiently cont.

Jamie’s Food Revolution

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” I find it hard to refrain from nodding my head in agreement when hearing celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s plea, a wish that awarded him the TED Prize, given annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, “One Wish to Change the World.” cont.

The Art of Eating In… and Finding Yourself

The saying goes that New York apartments no longer need kitchens because nobody cooks anymore. Although that may not actually be the case, it is not too far from the truth. If you’ve ever tried to find a decent meal around lunch time in Midtown Manhattan, you’ll have experienced the disappointment of a $10 sandwich that tastes far worse than one you could have made in two minutes and brownbagged. So why do we keep spending our hard-earned money like this? cont.

Slow Money: Sustainable Investing

The speed at which stock exchanges and money markets move these days is astonishing; trillions of dollars are zipping around the world each day, faster than any of us can truly fathom. The big crash and subsequent economic downturn has not done much to slow things down — trading is still very much based on short-term thinking, with little regard to anything but financial yield. cont.

Small Hand Foods: All-natural Cocktail Mixers

Those cocktail mixers that you find on the shelves of your average grocery store are jam-packed with food additives and all kinds of scary ingredients. You’d be lucky to find even a residual amount of actual strawberries in a typical Strawberry Daquiri mixer. As a bartender in the Bay Area, Jennifer Colliau saw the need for more natural alternatives and started Small Hand Foods. cont.

98.6 and Rising

Regardless of where you find yourself at this moment — in 20F New York… or 81F Miami Beach — may this playlist be your backdrop for a good snuggle by a toasty fire, a walk on the beach, sunset cocktails or a deep meditation in your favorite flotation device. cont.