Got a Green Accent?

One of the most pleasurable parts of going green—that’s right, it’s not all hard work—is decorating my home with green accents.

Searching for organic, salvaged, sustainable, and/or fair trade items helps me to create a personalized eco-nest, instead of a generic space right out of Crate&Barrel or Target, with items typically made overseas in manners far from earth-friendly.

There’s a green department store about an hour away from me, Real Green Goods (http://www.realgreengoods.com/), and whenever I introduce someone to the store, the items that stand out the most—which is a feat, considering everything is on my Must-Have List—are their Ghana Bolgatanga Market Baskets (pictured here).

This is how the baskets are described on their site: These popular Market Baskets can hold just about anything. In northern Ghana, a seemingly endless supply of tall elephant grass grows in the wetlands. Weavers in Africa use the abundant elephant grass to weave these incredibly hardy, useful baskets. The weavers are compensated fairly for their beautiful works of art. To easily reshape your basket, quickly submerge in water (keep leather dry), reshape by hand and let dry. Variations in color and design are to be expected as each basket is uniquely handwoven. Approximately 14" wide and 9" deep.

I saw identical baskets recently at Whole Foods for $50. But they cost just $29 at Real Green Goods; and because the store is located in New Hampshire, you don’t have to pay sales tax when you buy your own (you can place your order by calling 877-744-9744).

A top quality, handmade, fair trade African Market Basket at a price that’s also fair? Now you know what I mean about the pleasures of green accents.

Question of the blog: Do you have a favorite earth-friendly accessory in your home?

Got Chemicals?

I remembered today that my parents used to pay for lawn care service through “ChemLawn” when I was growing up. The idea behind the company was that chemicals would keep the lawn looking its “natural” best. How ironic.

Imagine a company now being called ChemWater or ChemClothing. It wouldn’t fly. But just because a company isn’t called ChemClothing doesn’t mean that isn’t, in fact, what it is. In other words, some pretty big and popular clothing manufacturers (most, in fact) use buckets and barrels of chemicals in their clothing production. In my first blog, I mentioned how the typical conventional t-shirt contains 1/3 pound of pesticides. Yikes . . . and yuck.

So check labels and buy organic and Made in the USA. I'm Organic (www.imorganic.com) is one of my favorite green t-shirt suppliers.

Question of the blog: Do you check labels along with ingredients lists?

Where Are All The Hip Organic Cotton Tees?

This morning, I set about to buy an organic cotton t-shirt. I powered up my laptop, went to Google.com, typed in “organic cotton t-shirt,” and then was utterly amazed at the lack of good options . . . and my expectations were quite simple.

I was looking for an organic cotton v-neck tee with either a funky saying or a bold design, or both. The real issue turned out to be the v-neck (since it appears that style doesn’t exist in organic cotton) although, as a rule, I wasn’t impressed with the designs either. I was also looking for a good deal--green or not, I'm not going to pay $75 for a t-shirt.

After an hour of searching, I did find a few tees I liked on http://www.imorganic.com/, having to ignore, of course, that they aren't v-necks. Their options aren’t plentiful but I like almost every design offered. I ended up buying their “Organic Love” t-shirt along with an “I’m Organic” wristband, which they claim is the world’s first 100% recycled wristband.

If you like their products as much as I do, here’s a tip: Use “whiteapricot” as a code during checkout and you’ll receive 20 percent off your order. Another tip: Visit http://www.whiteapricot.com/ for additional coupon codes for fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. [By the way, I have no affiliation with either website; my contribution to green fashion can be found at http://www.ecovixen.com/.]

Question of the blog: Do you have a favorite company that sells organic cotton t-shirts? If you do, let us know. You'll get bonus points if they carry v-necks!