ReThink, Volume 2

Contents 2

CONTRIBUTORS

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INTRODUCTION

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ALICIA SILVERSTONE Anything But Clueless

20 JESSE CAMERON-GLICKENHAUS Working Today for a Better Tomorrow 22 NOLAN Gerard FUNK Big Green Role Model

10 ZACH GILFORD Bringing Backcountry Rules to the Big City

24 JOSIE MARAN Saving the World One Lipstick Tube at a Time

12 HEALTHIER, WEALTHIER AND WISER The Case for Creating Green Schools Now

By Matt Petersen of Global Green

26 PRESSING PLAY TO SAVE LOUISIANA Paradise Faded Opens Eyes and Rebuilds Lives

By Aaron Viles of the Gulf Restoration Network

15 ROBERT JAMES HOFFMAN III And the Garbage Epiphany 16 CARLA ORTIZ Acting on Behalf of a Movement 18 KARINA SMIRNOFF Lean, Green Dancing Machine alternativeapparel.com

28 A VISION OF EFFICIENCY The Visionaire Combines EnergyEfficient Solutions with Dazzling, Innovative Design

29 SPEAK OUT Featuring Alison Sudol, Crystal Allen and Samantha Lockwood 30 SHENAE GRIMES Same Values, New Zip Code 32 MAX LUGAVERE & JASON Silva Bringing Techno-Optimism to the Green Scene 35 THE FUTURE OF DESIGN Creating a Holistic Living Space

By Nancy Astrid Lindo of Astrid Design Studios 36 CREATING A GREEN WORKPLACE Tips to Make Your Office Eco-Friendly

By Davida Heller of Ecospire 38 CONSTANCE WHITE Reshaping the Marketplace with Sustainable Shopping

40 BREE TURNER Sheds Light on the Small Stuff

50 MELISSA MEISTER And Her Eco-Chic Sustainable Style

41 Bamboo In the 21st Century The Ultimate Natural Resource

By Bruce Dear of Pure Bamboo

51 Concrete Tomato Building a Greener Garden

By Daniel Vandenbark of DEZINE, Inc.

42 NINA CLEMENTE Gets Back to Basics

52 FEATURED CHARITIES

44 KELLY RUTHERFORD From Glam to Green

SPECIAL THANKS STAFF & CONTACT

46 CHRIS KATTAN Growing Up Zen 47 GREG ALTERMAN Turning Ideas into Reality 48 58,345 HOURS FOR CLEAN WATER The Engreda Project

By Scott Harrison of charity: water

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Contributors Davis Factor One of today’s leading celebrity and fashion photographers, Davis Factor has contributed to Allure, Italian Vogue, Esquire, Mademoiselle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and Vanity Fair and has photographed a plethora of artists from the film and music scene such as Kirsten Dunst, Cameron Diaz, Angelina Jolie, Jamie Fox, George Clooney and Matt Damon. In addition to his fulltime photography career, Davis is the Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of Smashbox Cosmetics and Studio Services. In this issue of ReThink, Davis shot Max & Jason, Nina, Chris, Robert, Zach, Shenae, Nolan, Josie and Bree.

Of his work as a key contributor, Davis says, “I loved this project from the conception. The organic nature and creative lifestyle made it a no-brainer, and it was truly fun to be a part of. Alternative rocks!” www.davisfactorphotography.com

Melissa Rogers Melissa Rogers is a native New Yorker who prefers living the serene life in L.A. to the excitement of the asphalt jungle. A makeup artist who tries to support and incorporate natural and organic products into her profession, she dreams of a green home renovation and going to Neverland with her son, Shay. Melissa provided makeup artistry services for Max & Jason, Nina, Chris, Robert, Zach, Shenae, Nolan, Josie and Bree in this issue of ReThink.

Ben Kutsko Benjamin Kutsko makes films, art and magic in and about the world that his brain finds itself. He is responsible for filming all behindthe-scenes footage and videography for this issue of ReThink. www.benjaminkutsko.com

Anthony Cristiano Maya Singer Once upon a time, Maya Singer was a serious, often bespectacled student of Russian literature. Then she got sucked down a rabbit hole, and now she wanders fashion wonderland looking for the pill that will make her big again. The primary interviewer and writer for this issue of ReThink, Maya is also currently a contributing editor of Style.com.

Her writing about fashion, film, music and culture has appeared in publications such as Nylon, Paper, Interview, ID, V and VMan. She lives in New York.

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Anthony Cristiano has been a hair stylist for over twenty years. His work has been featured in publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, L’Uomo Vogue and Marie Claire, as well as advertising campaigns for Rampage, Mercedes-Benz and BCBG Max Azria. He has also had the pleasure of collaborating with photographers Davis Factor, Gilles Bensimon, Ben Watts and Tony Duran. In addition to his print work, Anthony has enjoyed working with celebrity clientele including Demi Moore, Mariah Carey and Uma Thurman, just to name a few. Anthony currently splits his time between New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Anthony provided hair styling services for Max & Jason, Nina, Chris, Robert, Zach, Shenae, Nolan, Josie and Bree in this issue of ReThink. www.artistsbytimothypriano.com

Matt Albiani

Scott Harrison

Matt Albiani is a New York-based photographer best known for the lush and approachable sense of his surroundings.

New England born and bred, Matt takes his east coast sensibilities with him on his travels and in his work, as illustrated by his recently released first book of photographs, LIFEGUARD ON DUTY. He has shot campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Victoria’s Secret, Nautica, J.Crew, Tommy Hilfiger, Hickey Freeman, Lilly Pulitzer, French Connection and Target, and his work has been featured in publications including Elle, Marie Claire, Esquire, Out, Allure, Interview and Vanity Fair. In this issue of ReThink, Matt photographed Greg Alterman, Constance White and Kelly Rutherford.

Matt’s advertising and editorial work can be viewed at his agency’s website, www.exposureny.com.

After spending ten years as a New York City party promoter, Scott Harrison decided to trade in his indulgent ways for a life of humanitarianism. In 2004, he volunteered as a photojournalist aboard a hospital ship in Liberia, where he witnessed an astonishing degree of poverty and human suffering.

After several more trips to Africa, Scott returned to New York and founded the nonprofit organization charity: water, turning his full attention to the global water crisis and the one billion people without clean water to drink. www.charitywater.org

Patrik Andersson After moving from Sweden to New York in his early twenties, Patrik’s clean style and direct vision soon caught the eye of international creative directors and fashion stylists, landing his work in Italian, French and American Vogue, Interview, Harper’s Bazaar, W, The Face, New York Times and Allure. Commercial clients have included Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, The Gap, H&M, Disney and DreamWorks. Patrik photographed Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus and Karina Smirnoff. Of his contributions to this issue of ReThink, Patrik says, “Shooting at the Visionaire, a building built with all the concerns for the environment, is of course great. Karina has a wonderful, sexy and fun energy. She looked beautiful twirling her body in the light over the New York harbor.

I sure couldn’t bend backwards like that...I need to get back to yoga.” www.patrikandersson.com Bruce Dear Bruce Dear is the president of Pure Bamboo, a company committed to providing ecofriendly products derived from bamboo, specializing in bamboo garments for the spa and resort industry. He is a member of the Sierra Club, NRDC, Amnesty International and the Carter Center. Locally, he has worked closely supporting Green Economy L.A., a nonprofit think tank connecting Southern California’s “green” businesses, NGOs and government agencies. Bruce is also the author of the newly released children’s book, Algrath the Family Tree.

This book is a labor of love and is the first in a series of children’s books dedicated to teaching empowerment through nature, self discovery, and storytelling. www.algrath.com

Davida Heller Davida Heller’s career as a sustainable lifestyle consultant started while working in the entertainment industry as vice president of production at a film production company in Los Angeles. Realizing that helping people incorporate sustainability into their lives was her true passion, Davida founded Ecospire, a consulting company committed to helping people and the environment.

Originally from New York, Davida has been living in Los Angeles for ten years. www.ecospire.com

Nikki Iannelli A leading New York-based hair stylist and makeup artist, Nikki Iannelli’s celebrity clientele includes Kate Winslett, Catharine Zeta Jones, Uma Therman, Vince Vaughn, Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger. Nikki’s work has appeared in publications such as New York and Gotham, as well as on the Sundance Channel’s Iconoclasts series. She provided hair and makeup artistry services for Greg Alterman, Constance White and Kelly Rutherford in this issue of ReThink. Nikki’s work can be viewed at www.bryanbantry.com.

Nancy Astrid Lindo Principal of Astrid Design Studio, Nancy Astrid Lindo is a LEED-accredited eco-interior designer and sustainability consultant.

She is certified in Green Building and Permaculture, enabling her to use her expertise in a wide range of disciplines and projects, ranging from residential to commercial spaces. Currently, she is working on a reference guide for the interior design industry, publishing articles and speaking on educating the public about ecological lifestyle design. www.astriddesignstudio.com

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Contributors Helene Macauley

Ryan Rickett

A former ballet dancer, Helene became employed as a receptionist at an upscale beauty salon, which ultimately led to her very successful career as a makeup artist.

In 1985, she moved to Milan to work on her portfolio, returned to New York City two years later and has been a force in the industry since. As an independent contractor, Helene remains in constant demand for editorial clients such as Vanity Fair, Allure and In Style, and has an impressive celebrity clientele base including Mariah Carey, Nicole Richie, Julia Roberts and Halle Berry.

Helene provided makeup artistry services for Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus and Karina Smirnoff in this issue of ReThink. In addition to her work in the beauty industry, Helene is an actor, writer, director and producer of film and theater. Helene’s work can be viewed at www.artistsbytimothypriano.com.

When Ryan Rickett is not directing music videos, sketch comedy or working on a career as a film director, he likes to shoot fashion photography, portraits and people jumping for joy. He is also a big advocate of out-of-body experiences. Ryan lives in Los Angeles with his cat, Furley. Ryan photographed Melissa Meister in this issue of ReThink. To view more of Ryan’s work, visit www.ryanrickett.com.

Alejandra Nerizagal A hairstylist with an appreciation for aesthetics and a passion for beauty, Alejandra’s innate talent and contemporary, sculptural style come from her exposure to the world of fine arts having spent years in her father’s painting studio. She launched her freelance career and relocated to New York City several years ago, exploring opportunities to express and expand her creativity. Alejandra’s work has been featured in Glamour, GQ, Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, and Nylon. Alejandra styled hair and makeup for Alicia Silverstone and Carla Ortiz.

Matt Petersen Matt Petersen, Global Green USA president, CEO and board member, joined Global Green USA in 1994. Matt has developed and guided the national environmental organization’s green affordable housing, schools and climate solutions programs with a unique social entrepreneurial approach. In the aftermath of the Gulf Coast hurricanes, he put forth a vision and mobilized resources to rebuild the city green, which has been heralded by Time magazine, and The Today Show. www.globalgreen.org

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Daniel Vandenbark Creativity has always been in Daniel’s core structure. Born in Sterling, Colorado, the family farm was not a likely venture.

After moving to Southern California for school, where Daniel received his Bachelor of Communications from Chapman University, he befriended mentor and landscape architect Tim Davis of Tim Davis & Associates, which ultimately led to the formation of his own custom furnishings and design company, DEZINE, Inc., in Jan. 2000. With his passion for creating spiritual environments that reflect one’s authentic self, Daniel’s work is about capturing the essence of architecture and blending it with each client’s unique and individual tones. www.dezinela.com

Aaron Viles Aaron Viles is the campaign director of the Gulf Restoration Network, a non-profit network of environmental groups dedicated to protecting and restoring the natural resources of the Gulf of Mexico. Based in New Orleans, GRN is working to ensure that New Orleans and other coastal areas in the central Gulf come back sustainably from the devastating hurricanes of 2005.

Aaron focuses on media, government and community relations for GRN. www.healthygulf.org

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ReThink Your Alternative

As our technological advancements continue to grow by leaps and bounds, we find that the world has grown smaller. With spatial, language and racial barriers beginning to crumble, no longer does the term “community” simply refer to your neighborhood, town or even your country. Rather, we are all part of a global community—a single human population linked to one another across oceans, continents and cultures by a shared interest in the state of our planet and the future of its inhabitants.

In the first edition of Think Earth, we began with a simple plan: to form a movement comprised of globally minded individuals dedicated to making a difference by taking actions large and small. Now, in this second volume, we encourage you to Rethink Your Alternative, and reconsider the possibility of a long life, health and prosperity for all people. With our ever-growing community now in place, our goal is quite clear—to promote eco-consciousness on every level, from environmentalism and health issues to education and public development.

Drawn together by the social and environmental crises that threaten our precious natural resources and, in turn, our very existence, we have once again partnered with businesses, celebrities, activists and nonprofits in a collaborative effort to raise awareness, incite thought

and catalyze change in the world. From distributing earth-friendly makeup and skin care products like beauty mogul Josie Maran (p.24) to guiding our youth on wilderness travel adventures like Zach Gilford (p.10) to specializing in eco-interior design like Nancy Astrid Lindo (p.35), each person in ReThink represents an idea or perspective on the state of our planet and expresses it in their daily lives.

This time around, we are also thrilled to announce our campaign to benefit Global Green USA, a national environmental nonprofit dedicated to creating green schools and promoting smart solutions to global warming (p.12). As a symbol of our initiative for positive action and humanitarianism, we’ve even added a new Think Earth t-shirt to our collection, for which 100 percent of the net proceeds will benefit Global Green.

Whether you’re volunteering at a beach clean-up, organizing an office carpool program or simply making a difference with what you wear, every effort is crucial— there is no act too small. As you rethink the way you live, remember that all great resolutions start with the thoughts and actions of a single individual. Inspiring others to make a difference and share their authenticity with the world around them—that is what this issue of ReThink is all about.

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Alicia Silverstone

Anything But Clueless

Alicia Silverstone earned her place in the silver screen’s pantheon of do-gooding ditzes with her performance as Cher Horowitz in Clueless (1995). In the years since, Silverstone has kept up the do-gooding, minus the ditziness. An outspoken animal rights activist and committed conservationist, Silverstone has spent much of her post-Clueless time in the spotlight advocating for veganism, a diet she sees as marrying both causes.

According to Silverstone, eating vegan is the healthiest choice, too—and the silver bullet solution to clingy pounds and problem skin. Silverstone has distilled her food wisdom into a new book, The Kind Diet, which offers ideas, info and encouragement to people ready to test out the veg lifestyle. “I’m really trying to nudge people into making better choices,” Silverstone explains, between bites of her homemade vegan cheesecake. “The more good choices you make, the better. But it’s not all or nothing.” Here, Silverstone talks about opening people’s minds to the pleasures of eating kind.

People know you as an advocate for animal rights and for veganism, but I think people also have a sense that those causes are off to one side of the sustainability movement, if not entirely separate from it. But you seem to see all these issues as profoundly intertwined.

They’re so connected. I’ll tell you a story: I was in the rain forest not long ago, on a conservation trip, and I’d say the people on the trip were about 50/50, veg and meateaters. Now, these are all very committed people, they care about what’s happening to the planet and they want to make things better. But the people who ate meat, you know, they’d kind of chide us, saying, “Look, this isn’t about the environment; you guys just love animals, that’s all.” Well, that’s true, I love animals. Guilty as charged. But you could literally point at land that, until just recently, had been rain forest, and it had all been cleared away for cattle ranges. That is rain forest that is never coming back. I mean, the way a herd of cattle grazes the land, the way they tread on the ground, they turn soil into desert. And that land won’t be fertile again— not in our lifetime, anyway. So you’ve taken out rain forest, which sponges up the carbon in the atmosphere, and you’ve replaced it with a cattle range, and soon, that range is going to be dead ground. That’s the trade-off. And I’d go through all of that with the meat-eaters on the trip, and they’d sort of stick their fingers in their ears and say, “Noooo….”

Of course, the rejoinder you often hear to that kind of argument is, well, the people who live in and around the rain forest deserve access to good protein.

The rain forest has so much food in it— wonderful, healthy food. You can absolutely thrive on what can be harvested from it. Look at it another way: You’ve taken land that is naturally flourishing with nutritious food for people, and you’ve turned it into land that feeds animals that are then supposed to go back and feed the same people, only much less efficiently. That doesn’t make any sense.

I was setting up a straw man, there—I think anyone who’s dipped into The Omnivore’s Dilemma or seen Food, Inc. ought to have a pretty good handle on the stunning inefficiency of beef production.

All the water that goes into the corn they eat, the land used up growing the corn, the land used up herding, the oil running the trucks that ship the feed to the lot and the cattle to the market. And then you’re looking at simple things like the grain we use to feed one animal, that grain could have fed an entire village.

Not to mention the health issues around the antibiotics they give the animals, and the conditions they keep them in. It’s a mess.

But Michael Pollan and his acolytes tend to come down on the side of, ok, we’re humans,

we’re supposed to eat meat, so let’s be more conscious of where it comes from and how it was raised, and reduce the amount of it we’re eating. You’re a little more radical, no?

Yes and no. I don’t want people to get scared off by the idea that they absolutely must give up meat. Though I do feel that if you want to be your healthiest self and do best by the planet, then ultimately, you’ll come around to that. But I like the idea of aspiring vegetarians. You know, I’m always meeting people who are, like, “I’m curious about this. I’m interested in a healthy lifestyle, I’m interested in the planet, but….” I have a whole section in The Kind Diet that addresses those people. I call it “Flirting.” I want to make it really easy for people to do the best they can.

It’s a very positive thing.

So, what are some “kind” foods?

Well, grain is the foundation. It gets a really bad rap, but if you just start eating more whole grains, you’ll notice your body change, your heart change, your being change. Even your eyes. Everything will change, even if you do nothing but add a whole grain into your life. Something like having brown rice every day. Or you can experiment with seitan— that’s wheat gluten—and there are so many delicious things you can make with it, and it’s got more protein than tofu. We all know how amazing fruits and vegetable are, of course, and then beans, which are so inexpensive and versatile and nutritious and filling…I could go on and on.

I think most people pick up a book with the word “diet” in the title because they want to lose weight.

This isn’t that kind of diet book. But I will say, if you eat this way, you will be skinnier. That just sort of happens automatically. But there’s so much more than that happening. I have medical and scientific data in the book that backs this up, but fundamentally, this is how I live, how I nourish myself every day. And every day, I feel myself getting stronger and clearer and more beautiful. It’s like I’m aging younger. And my soul feels good, too. alternativeapparel.com

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Zach Gilford Bringing Backcountry Rules to the Big City

For three seasons, the rabid fans of Friday Night Lights have followed Zach Gilford from heartbreak to triumph and back. And in the forthcoming Sundance darling Dare, the Northwestern-trained thesp finally puts his bedroom eyes to work, playing the object of two teenagers’ affection. Off-screen, meanwhile, Gilford has been seduced by the great outdoors; for several years, he’s been leading backcountry trips for teenagers in his spare time. Here, he gives us his wilderness tips for the big city.

How long have you been working as a backcountry guide? And how did you get into doing that?

I went to summer camp, as a kid, and wound up getting really into the outdoors. So, I guess it’s been six or seven years now that I’ve been working with this company Adventures Cross-Country—same basic idea as Outward Bound, but just during the summer and just for high school kids.

because you’re breathing—but you can minimize. And one of the ways you minimize is you plan ahead and prepare. If you’re going camping, make a plan in case it rains, so that you don’t have to cut down a bunch of trees to make a shelter. That’s common sense, and it absolutely applies to life in the city, it applies wherever you are.

Buy a reusable water bottle. Pack a lunch. Reuse your tinfoil. Bring a sweater. And do your research! That’s a big one.

What do you mean, “do your research?”

Do you find that working with kids forces you to be more conscious of your own behavior, eco-wise?

I’d like to think I can inspire these kids the way my own trip leaders inspired me when I was their age. And it is my job to set a certain kind of example. Like, we’ll be walking through the woods and I’ll see a piece of trash, and it’s my job to say, “Well, it sucks that someone did that, and now I’m going to pick up that trash, and carry it around in my pack until I can dispose of it properly.” And that way, that trash won’t be here anymore. There’s this principle, outdoors: Leave no trace. Outdoor ethics. Those backcountry rules have been drilled into my head. Now I’m trying to pass them along.

Do those rules have any application outside of the woods? Can they work in, say, L.A.?

I mean, on the simplest level, it’s like, don’t spit your gum on the ground. One of my friends will do that—we’ll be walking around, and I’ll go over and pick it up. I mean, how hard is it to chew a piece of gum for a couple extra minutes, until you find a trash can?

Not that hard. More generally, I think living in a tent for five or six weeks in a row instills you with a pretty deep respect for nature. Out there, you can keep your carbon footprint pretty small—not zero,

It’s like, I just bought my own house. And as much as I’d like to install solar panels, I can’t afford to do that right now. But I can find out from my energy provider whether they carry a green option, and when I buy something like a new refrigerator, I can make sure it’s energy-efficient. You look for the little Energy Star logo, it’s not that big of a deal.

Are there things you’d like to do, to be more green, that you find a challenge in your daily life?

Well, I do live in L.A., so obviously I’m in and out of the car all the time. That’s unavoidable. But the driving isn’t quite as unavoidable as people make it out to be. I’ve gotten to a point now where I’m like, riding my bicycle, my foot-pedaled bicycle, is usually a faster way to get somewhere than driving my car. There’s no traffic. The only problem is, if I’m going to an audition or something, I can’t show up all hot and sweaty. But now, even if I’m meeting my agent for lunch, I’ll call and say, do you mind if I’m all nasty and sweaty?

I think I’m going to run there. There are times when I’m going someplace, and I’ve got all the time in the world to get there, the only reason I would drive is that I’m too lazy to ride my bike. My big thing is, never let laziness be the excuse. alternativeapparel.com

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Healthier, Wealthier and Wiser The Case for Creating Green Schools Now

By Matt Petersen of Global Green

• 38,779 tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided—equivalent to planting 116,338 trees annually, or removing 6,463 cars from the road each year.

These statistics are impressive, but more importantly, green schools protect and improve student and teacher health, improve student performance by as much as 25 percent, lower operating costs by 20–40 percent, and reduce water usage 32 percent.

Today, millions of children and teachers go to school every day in unhealthy, inefficient schools that waste money, make kids sick and provide poor environments for learning.

The state of aging school infrastructure is truly a national travesty. When I first visited New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina to see how my environmental organization Global Green could help rebuild the city green, I toured a local high school and was overwhelmed to discover such decay and disrepair. I later learned this didn’t result from the storm, but from years of neglect. Sadly, this is not an isolated school or city.

Fortunately, we do have the solutions to help rebuild our schools to be healthy, efficient and productive centers of learning. California is leading the way with $100 million in bond money to support building green schools, and thanks to Global Green, Los Angeles Unified is building all of its new schools to healthy, green standards. New Orleans is considering doing the same, and this year Congress approved $40 billion in the stimulus package to build green schools.

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Global Green USA has been pioneering smart climate solutions for schools, homes and communities for more than a decade and has helped more than 40,000 students and teachers by greening hundreds of millions of dollars of green school construction in California and New Orleans. Building green schools is one of the most effective ways to improve academic performance, improve health and lower costs of operating schools.

With the support of the Annenberg Foundation, Global Green has already partnered with the LA Unified School District to build more than 34 new green schools resulting in: • 25,000 students and staff benefiting from reduced exposure to air pollutants such as formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds, many of which are asthma triggers.

• 23,600 children provided with improved learning environments through the provision of natural daylight and improved acoustics.

In New Orleans, where we’ve put forward a vision of building a sustainable, green city, Global Green received a grant from the Bush Clinton Katrina Fund to similarly help rebuild green schools and return students and teachers to healthier, more productive classrooms than they had even pre-Katrina.

For an investment of just $75,000 in energy improvements, we’ve been able to save schools on average $25,000 per year in electricity costs (a three-year payback).

President Obama recently visited one of these schools—Dr. Martin Luther King Charter School in the Lower Ninth Ward—and praised the students and the school as an example of the progress in the Ninth Ward since Katrina.

Global Green also sees green, highperformance schools as a chance for those concerned students, teachers and parents to connect with tangible solutions to global warming, and to provide enhanced curriculum opportunities. Creating green schools not only reduces operating, maintenance and insurance costs; these schools transform a child’s school experience through better health, learning, and eventually, greater earning capacity. They are learning laboratories— providing students with a connection to the natural world and giving students, teachers and parents an opportunity to contribute to the solutions to climate change.

To learn more about green schools and what you can do to help green your local school, please visit www.globalgreen.org/ greenschooltips. To support Global Green’s Green School Initiative, please consider becoming a member today by visiting www.globalgreen.org/member.

About Global Green USA Global Green USA, one of Alternative Apparel’s charity beneficiaries, is the American affiliate of Green Cross International, founded by President Gorbachev to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future. For 15 years, Global Green USA has been a national leader in advocating for smart solutions to global warming including green building for affordable housing, schools and communities that save money, improve health and create green jobs. Global Green USA has influenced more than $20 billion for green building projects and educates millions of people about climate-friendly solutions through its annual Red Carpet/Green Cars Oscars campaign. Global Green is also leading efforts to help rebuild a green New Orleans through its sustainable green village and green schools initiatives. To find out more, visit www.globalgreen.org.

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Top Reasons to Create Green Schools * INCREASE STUDENT PEFORMANCE

Studies have shown that student test scores can improve up to 20 percent when kids learn in green classrooms that provide more natural daylighting, improved classroom acoustics and healthier paints and carpets that don’t release toxic chemicals into the air.

* PROTECT HEALTH

Schools built with more natural daylight, better ventilation and healthy green building materials such as non VOC carpets and paints, can improve student and teacher health and result in fewer sick days, higher teacher retention and improved student attendance.

* SAVE MONEY

Operating costs for energy and water can be reduced by 20 percent to 40 percent, allowing more money to be used for teacher salaries, textbooks and computers.

* PROVIDE A UNIQUE

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY Buildings can become teaching tools and important features of science, math and environmental curriculum when green features and advanced technology and design in schools are used to excite kids about learning real world applications of green technologies.

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REDUCE CARBON EMISSIONS Green schools significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In Los Angeles alone, building 34 new green schools will reduce 94,000 tons of CO₂—or the equivalent of eliminating more than 15,000 cars from the road every year or planting more than 280,000 trees!

* REDUCE WATER USAGE

On average, a green school reduces water usage 32 percent. This reduction has direct savings for the building, as well as substantial societal benefits from lower pollution and reduced infrastructure costs to deliver water and to transport and treat wastewater.

* IMPROVE TEACHER RETENTION

A green school can reduce teacher turnover by up to 5 percent, which results in financial savings for the school, as well as a more positive experience for students.

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* CREATE GREEN JOBS

Investing in building green schools is an investment in green jobs including green construction, building product manufacturing and green architecture.

* IMPROVE DAILY ATTENDANCE

Students in green schools are absent less frequently. By reducing absenteeism just 15 percent, a typical elementary school would save from $40,000–$60,000.

* IMPROVE EQUITY

Greening public schools creates an opportunity to improve the health and educational settings for all students, regardless of income or background.

* UPDATE THE LIGHTS

Swap out old, inefficient incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). CFLs last up to ten times longer than standard incandescent light bulbs, and save an average of $30 or more in energy costs over the life of each bulb.

* PLANT AN ORGANIC EDIBLE GARDEN

Organize school garden projects that engage students, teach about nutrition and produce some food for their consumption. Create a school-wide composting program of cafeteria and food scraps. Through basic and worm composting programs, students can learn about ecology, biology and waste reduction.

REUSE, RECYCLE * REDUCE, Create a school recycling program. Recycle everything that cannot be reused; and encourage the purchase of items that can be recycled. By recycling just one glass bottle, you save enough electricity to power a 100watt bulb for four hours.

* CONDUCT A CLASSROOM ENERGY AUDIT

How many lights are on? Is there heat or A/C? Do the computers get left on at night?

Adjusting computer monitor settings, turning the lights off before recess, having a “lights-off” hour once per week, and so on can help raise awareness of overall energy consumption.

* EDUCATE ON ENVIRONMENTALLY

RESPONSIBLE BEHAVIOR There are many ways that green school initiatives can support your school’s curriculum, with key tie-ins to science, math, social studies and economics. Help students and adults understand that more than 80 percent of pollution results from the production, consumption and disposal of energy—and that actions they take really do make a difference.

* BE PUBLIC

Track monthly energy savings or classroom behavior changes, and post them in a common area at school. Broadcast reminders over the school PA system each day reminding everyone to turn off all unused equipment. Use the school’s electronic marquee to display messages of conservation to the public.

* REPLICATE YOUR EFFORTS AT HOME

Make a list of energy problems in the home and suggest solutions, which students can bring home to their families. Include practical and convenient energy saving tips in the school’s monthly newsletter as well.

* SUPPORT GREEN CLEANING

Advocate that schools use alternatives to pesticides, herbicides and toxic cleaning materials whenever possible.

* ORGANIZE TO PASS A SCHOOL

BOARD RESOLUTION You can work with parents, students, teachers, principals, district staff, school board members and advocacy groups to get your local school board to pass a framework resolution promoting sustainable and healthy schools.

Robert James

Hoffman I I I And the Garbage Epiphany

For a few years now, Robert James Hoffman III has been cladding himself in black and scaring the bejesus out of people for the benefit of videos that have made him a viral sensation. A dancer since he was a kid, Hoffman’s fancy footwork and ninja agility have earned him gigs backing up everyone from Christina Aguilera to Marilyn Manson, and a starring role in the dancetastic flick Step Up 2: The Streets. If you didn’t catch him in this summer’s kid-friendly Aliens in the Attic, he’s got the grown-up films Say Hello to Stanley Talmadge and Young Americans on the way. Here, the rising star tells us why landfills are even scarier than a nunchuck-wielding assassin.

How did you get interested in environmental issues?

Funny you should mention that, because actually, I’m pro-pollution. [Laughs.] No, in all seriousness, I’m super-conscious about all that eco stuff. Like, I was pretty much jumping out of my pants when I finally got a recycling program going at my apartment complex.

There wasn’t one?!

Unbelievable, right? I’ve got to tell you, I was getting really tired of hauling all my cans and bottles around in my car. I mean, I had these huge, stinky bags of recycling that I’d be driving around for weeks until I finally managed to drop them off somewhere.

average week. And then that made me think, whoa—how much garbage will I have taken out by the time I die? I mean, how much garbage do I create, me, one human being?

And where ultimately does all that garbage go? Just trying to wrap my head around the mass of it…that was my moment.

tell someone like that is, change your light bulbs. You were going to have to change them anyway, and if you get the compact fluorescents, they last way longer, so you can be even lazier.

What changes have you made to your lifestyle since then?

Look, the way I see it, the big picture stuff about what’s happening to the planet, that stuff people just have to come to themselves. I saw An Inconvenient Truth, and that information was hot in my brain, but it wasn’t until that day with the garbage that I recognized my own responsibility in this gig.

It’s about day-in, day-out choices.

Well, I’ve done all the stuff like changing my bulbs to the compact fluorescents, and I’m getting ready to buy a biodiesel car. I know some people want to get hybrids, and that’s great, too. You have to do something. It’s just selfishly naïve for us to keep driving these gas-guzzlers.

So, that brings me back to the original question⎯how did you get interested in being “green?”

If you met someone who wasn’t doing anything to reduce his or her carbon footprint, what one thing would you tell that person to do?

I can tell you the exact moment it all hit me.

One day, I was taking out a sack of garbage and for some reason, I started to think about how many sacks of garbage I took out in an

In that case, you’re probably dealing with a person who is really, really lazy. I mean, no matter what, he’s only going to make the minimum effort. So, the easiest thing to

“Be lazier.” Not the usual green message….

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Carla Ortiz Acting on Behalf of a Movement

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Carla Ortiz is not your average bombshell. Though the Bolivian-born Ortiz does spend a fair amount of her time doing the stuff you’d expect of a sexy up-and-coming actress, like racing around L.A. to auditions and jetting to the sets of indie films and TV pilots, the bulk of her days are devoted to missions far from any spotlight. Ortiz is both the spokesperson for Quaker Bolivia Link, which works to sustainably develop rural villages in Latin America, and the chairman of international affairs for the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO), a consultant body to the United Nations that promotes and delivers renewable energy programs worldwide.

Looking at your résumé, it seems as though your life has been running on two parallel tracks—the acting track, and the eco track.

Do you see the two things as related?

In a way, it’s been even more complicated than that. And in another way, yes, it’s all the same thing. I grew up in a Catholic family and went to a Catholic school, and from childhood, I’ve taken for granted that you devote part of yourself to giving back.

I mean, ten percent of our time and our money always went to charity, you know?

And growing up in Bolivia—which is one of the poorest countries in the world—that meant that I was involved from a young age with the indigenous people there. So, it’s really just a part of who I am. The acting thing I arrived at much later—I came to the States on a tennis scholarship, and then wound up studying film and theater. It’s the last thing anyone in Bolivia would ever dream to do, because there’s not really an entertainment world; you have maybe, one big production every year or two. Even to think of becoming an actor is a kind of luxury. But I wound up having some success in the Latin film and television world, and there came a point where I’d achieved a certain amount of celebrity and I realized that I had to use that exposure for something. I had to become an investor in my own beliefs.

And what brought you into the orbit of the green movement?

You know, the Mayas, the Aztecs, the Incas, all the native civilizations of Latin America, they all lived in such perfect harmony with nature. But, of course, you can’t ask their descendents to live that way now. They want to be part of the modern world, and anyway, the modern world was coming to them,

like it or not. And they were getting taken advantage of in a terrible way. For example, in the Amazons, there are some oaks that are worth, like, $2,000, or even up to $40,000 apiece. And people would come in, and say to these indigenous tribes, “Hey, I’ll pay $100 for this tree.” They thought they were getting a great deal. I mean, for someone in the Amazon, $100 seems like a lot of money. But these are trees that are thousands of years old, and you just can’t do that. So, I wanted to find a way to protect the people, and the environment, by setting up contracts with companies to create a sustainable forestry program. That’s how it started, anyway.

Like I said, there isn’t any entertainment industry in Bolivia, and so down there, I’m a huge star—the girl who made it—and so people just ask me to get involved in lots of different things. Which is what led to me getting involved with the IREO, and that in turn was what led to me getting involved with The Bridge— Hold on. Just to clarify: What is the IREO? And what is The Bridge?

Basically, the IREO is an organization that acts as an umbrella for all the companies coming up with green technologies. I mean, there are thousands of people working on this stuff, and until the IREO came along, there wasn’t anyone who was really making sense of what was out there. Now, people can see what companies are working on, test the technologies, implement them, and so on. I started out as a Latin American ambassador to the organization, which essentially meant that I was looking out for technologies that would serve the needs of Latin America. That’s what got me interested in The Bridge, because their work, unlike most green technology, is really aimed at the base of the pyramid.

I’m confused again. The base of the pyramid?

If you think about how many people are on the planet, well, most of those people are poor. They live in places that are undeveloped. We’re talking a billion people who have never seen a light bulb. It’s almost impossible to understand that until you’ve seen it—they don’t know how a bulb works, and if you show them one, they can’t understand how the light comes out of it, or where it comes from. That’s the base of the pyramid. Most green technology is aimed at developed nations—the top of the pyramid.

The electric car, for example, that’s a top-ofthe-pyramid project. It’s not for people who live without an electrical grid.

So, what does it mean to create green technology for the base of the pyramid?

Well, first of all, the technology can’t be expensive. And secondly, it has to take into account that there’s no infrastructure in place—for water, for electricity, for anything we think of as basic in the developed world.

But that’s where the opportunity is. You have these vast numbers of communities that were never conditioned to use nonrenewable resources, so when you introduce a sustainable technology, like solar, you’re taking them straight to the next generation of development. We’re working to make that happen in Tanzania, in Sierra Leone, in parts of Venezuela.

A lot of people fret that third world development spells doom for the whole anti-global warming project. Like China— everyone there used to ride bikes, but now they’re all buying cars. And working in factories.

That’s why you have to include the undeveloped places in the push for sustainability now. The project can’t work if it doesn’t include everyone; people want progress. It’s not fair to ask a billion people to keep waking up with the sun and going to bed with the sun, or to do without drinking water so that we can continue taking halfhour showers and sprinkling our lawns. But we can seize the initiative, and make sure the development happens in the right way.

And I think that when these communities do make the leap into our modern world, they’re going to teach us a lot about being green, because their lifestyles have been green all along. alternativeapparel.com

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Karina Smirnoff Lean, Green Dancing Machine

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Dancing with the Stars fans know Karina Smirnoff for her fancy footwork.

Samba, foxtrot, Viennese waltz—there’s nothing this dance dynamo can’t do, apparently. So it may come as a surprise to find that, until this summer, the five-time U.S. national champion ballroom dancer had no idea how to ride a bike. “I did know how,” she protests. “I just didn’t know that I knew. I tried to learn when I was seven, but I didn’t like to fall, so I never tried again.” That changed on a recent visit to Paris, when Smirnoff’s traveling companion convinced her to give one of the city’s Vélib rental bikes a whirl. Now, Smirnoff is putting her mettle to the pedal, cycling to the dance studio in Los Angeles she’s about to open, and building with eco-principles high in mind. Here, the entertainer/entrepreneur/soon-to-be author talks about how she got on the green beat.

So, you’re busy. You just wrapped a Broadway show, you’re shooting the new season of Dancing with the Stars, you’re writing two books, and you’re opening a dance studio. And paparazzi follow you around. Honestly, I’m not sure what to ask about first.

And there’s the PETA campaign, too. I’m really excited about that coming out. You know, they always do, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur.” But for me, it’s “I’d rather dance naked.”

Were you wary about going totally starkers?

I mean, those costumes you wear when you’re dancing are pretty revealing, but still….

Ugh, it was so embarrassing. But you have to do it, because it’s such a great, great cause.

Anyway, that’s what I kept telling myself when I was preparing to go get shot. They kept saying, “Karina, are you ready?” And I was like, “No!” But, I mean, I have this spotlight with Dancing with the Stars, and I should use it. There are other people who go out to the places where they kill baby seals; I can do this instead.

The dance studio you’re building in L.A. incorporates a lot of green principles—the

lighting plan emphasizes natural light, for example, and the floorboards are compressed wood rather than beam. How did you get interested in that stuff?

There was never one moment when I said, “Ahh, I’m going to go green.” But in Los Angeles, it’s part of the conversation, and the more I started to think about how all these issues affect me, and affect my family and all the people around me, the more I realized that I had to make some changes to my lifestyle in order to do things in a better way.

And as I said, I know I have this spotlight on me right now, and I do feel like that gives me a responsibility to set a good example. So, the dance studio was one way to do that, and as we began to research materials and things like this, it really became clear that a lot of these green ideas are just more like common sense. Using sunlight as much as possible, for instance. And non-toxic paints. It’s a dance studio—it should be a healthy environment.

One of the books you’re working on is a fitness guide; what’s the other one?

It’s a memoir. A happy memoir, about how my family moved here from Russia, all the way through Dancing with the Stars.

Are there any health tricks you brought with you from Russia?

Well, some of these are in the book. But you know, I’m also half-Greek, and I will say it’s a good thing to drink olive oil in the morning.

Olive oil? That sounds disgusting, frankly.

But it regulates your digestion and wraps your stomach, so you don’t get as hungry and crave food you shouldn’t crave. Twoin-one. And it’s great for your skin, too, so that’s three benefits! Very efficient, and allnatural—like riding a bike.

Do you think that sustainability issues are particularly relevant to a dancer?

Well, to do three minutes of full-on dancing, you have to be in top-notch shape. And anything that makes it harder to take care of your body, like the air not being clean, is a problem. alternativeapparel.com

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Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus Working Today for a Better Tomorrow

Chances are, you’ve never heard of Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus. but the 27-year-old New Yorker may have already affected your future, and the future of everyone around you.

Almost two years ago, when Jesse CameronGlickenhaus was working as an advisor to the U.N. Mission of Palau, he helped the tiny island nation present a resolution addressing the potential international security implications of climate change. That may sound like a lot of bureaucratese, but when the resolution finally passed this summer, it marked the first time the United Nations’ General Assembly had ever acknowledged that climate change posed a concrete threat to the peace and well-being of all its member states, and kicked the issue upstairs to the UN Security Council.

“On the one hand, it was a tremendous accomplishment,” says Cameron-Glickenhaus, who got his job working with Palau while he was in graduate school for global affairs at New York University. “On the other hand,” he adds, “It took a year and a half to get there.

And things need to happen now.”

Since graduating from NYU, CameronGlickenhaus has resumed his first passion— teaching. The kids at Lyon Community School in Brooklyn know him as a science teacher; he’s also teaching a class on climate change at NYU. Speaking truth on sustainability to the next generation of power is a natural fit, given that it was a teaching experience that got Cameron-Glickenhaus interested in climate change to begin with. As a newly minted college grad, he moved to the Marshall Islands to teach English, health and science, and while he was there, he got to see the effects of water-shortage and waste pile-up firsthand.

“There was a problem with our rainwater catchments, and we ran out of drinking water,” he recalls. “And then, you know, you’re seeing where all your garbage goes, because you either burn it, or you throw it in the lagoon, or you put it in the dump, which is right next to your house. Energy was a constant problem, too,” Cameron-Glickenhaus 20

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goes on to explain. “We ran out of electricity all the time, and we’d have to close the schools. I saw all these things close-up, and at a certain point, it struck me that this island was a microcosm of what was about to happen on a global scale.”

Cameron-Glickenhaus notes, as well, that many of his students in the Marshall Islands were the descendents of the people on the Bikini Atoll who were forced to relocate in the 1940s, after the United States began using its main island as a testing site for atom bombs.

“These people still have a desire to move back to their homeland,” CameronGlickenhaus says. “But what’s more likely, given the way sea levels are rising, is that we’re going to have to relocate them again.

And that just didn’t seem fair to me. I had to work against that.”

Cameron-Glickenhaus returned to the States to pursue the cause of abating climate change—through public policy and through education, and by making his own lifestyle as sustainable as he could. Among other things, Cameron-Glickenhaus was one of the first residents at The Visionaire, Manhattan’s first LEED-certified condominium development, and he recently launched a green book club. One of the first titles the group read, he says, was William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s seminal Cradle-to-Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things.

“The more educated we all are, the better,” Cameron-Glickenhaus points out. “The only drawback is that the more you know, the harder it becomes to do the right thing, because you realize that the infrastructure doesn’t exist to support you in that. Not yet, anyway. I mean, you do what you can,” he adds. “You carry a reusable water bottle and a shopping bag, you shop at the farmers’ market and you buy as much as you can secondhand.”

But, he goes on to note, when would-be ecoshoppers do need to buy something new, they have to make time for research.

“It’s a real challenge, trying to figure out what is greenwashing and what’s not,” he says, referring to marketing that puts a green gloss on undeserving products. “It’s like, just recently I had to buy a pair of shoes, and trying to figure out where different brands were produced, and how they were made, it was a big task. A lot of companies keep their supply chains secret, precisely because the don’t want you to know that stuff. We need there to be more transparency,” he says, “in order to start rationalizing the marketplace for consumers.”

“Looking further ahead,” CameronGlickenhaus continues, “consumers themselves need to rethink how they consume.”

“I don’t just mean buy less,” he explains.

“What I mean is, ok, there are things we consume, literally—like food and water—but then there’s all this other stuff that we’re only consuming in a figurative sense. If you buy a TV, what you’re really buying is a delivery platform for entertainment; your purchase of the TV is a kind of rent you pay for that service. “So,” he continues, “why not just rent the television from the company that produces it? And then, when you’re ready to get rid of that TV, you give it back to the company, so they can rent it to someone else, or make something new out of its parts.”

Getting away from an ownership model would require a paradigm shift not only from consumers, but from corporations as well, Cameron-Glickenhaus says.

“Personally, I’d be very happy to be able to give my television back to Sony, or whoever, when I’m done with it,” he says. “I’d rather they be responsible for figuring out what to do with it. But I also think I’d probably use my TV, or my cell phone, or my iPod longer if we went to that model, because the products would be made to last. Corporations would get out of the business of planned obsolescence if they knew the products they made would be coming back to them at some point.”

CHANCES ARE, YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF JESSE CAMERON-GLICKENHAUS. BUT THE 27 YEAR-OLD NEW YORKER MAY HAVE ALREADY AFFECTED YOUR FUTURE, AND THE FUTURE OF EVERYONE AROUND YOU.

Such shifts in buying and selling behavior can’t wait for a new generation of consumers, Cameron-Glickenhaus asserts. Working with high schoolers, he says, has made him realize that the consequences of climate change seem too far-off to the young⎯and most of them can’t yet vote with their wallets.

“This is our project,” he says. “Adults need to care more about this issue, and do something about it, because we’re the ones in charge. If we put it off any longer, it’s going to be too late. alternativeapparel.com

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Nolan Gerard Funk Big Green Role Model

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Do you think “eco” has become a fad?

It is a fad. But I don’t see it as short-lived.

I mean, all these corporations introducing green product lines, they’re not doing it out of a concern for the planet. They have to sense that there’s a demand for change.

They see the consciousness shifting. And, fad or not, that’s a good thing. Like, in L.A., it’s definitely a “thing” to be green, and a lot of people probably get on board because it’s trendy, but at the end of the day, another person driving a hybrid or drinking from the tap is another person using less. And for me, that’s the key—just use less.

Care to be more specific?

Nolan Gerard Funk is a sucker for public transportation. When the triple-threat actor-singer-dancer moved from his native Vancouver to Los Angeles, he found himself riding the bus to auditions. “I’d come off a part in a movie, where I was being treated like, you know, a movie star,” recalls Funk, “and then it was back home and back on the bus.” These days, the star of Nickelodeon’s musical movie Spectacular! is looking forward to spending some quality time on the subway: Funk has just moved to New York City in order to take on the title role in the Broadway revival of Bye Bye Birdie. Here, the soon-to-be-super-famous Funk tells us a few stellar ways to go green.

Well, here’s where I struggle: I’m really busy, and so for me, it’s like, how do I plan my day so I can consume as few resources as possible? I like to drink a lot of water, so how do I accommodate that without stopping off every couple of hours to buy a bottle that, yes, I can recycle, but that I’d be better off not buying at all? I’m trying to get into the habit of carrying one of those canteen-like things and filling it before I leave the house.

The same convenience factor comes into play with food. I’m constantly running around, and the temptation is to grab something to go, but then you’re dealing with all this packaging, and that’s really wasteful.

Whereas, if you sort out a half an hour to sit down and have a meal, that’s not only more efficient, resources-wise, but it’s probably better for you as a human being, too.

How do you mean?

Some of the kids reading this will recognize you as the spokesperson for Nickelodeon’s The Big Green Help campaign. How did that come about?

One of my favorite scenes in Spectacular!, when I read the script, involves my character, Nikko, trading his gorgeous Firebird for a bad-ass bike. As in bicycle. He’s this rebellious kid, teenage rocker type, who’s gotten interested in, you know, song ‘n’ dance, and he’s selling his car to raise money for costumes, but when someone asks him why he got rid of the car, his line is, “I’m going green!” I loved that. But then the whole thing with the bike and the car, it all

got cut. I was fighting the producers—can’t we find a way to get that line back in? As subtle as it was, I loved the fact that it put the message out there. Anyway, I guess somebody realized I was pretty passionate about these issues, so when The Big Green Help campaign came along, Nickelodeon asked me to do it. And of course, that was a no-brainer. Not to sound cliché or anything, but kids really are the future, and this was all about educating them on the ways they can do better by the planet. Easy, specific things—like recycle! If you’re cold, don’t turn up the heat—put on a sweater! It’s been cool, seeing the impact that’s had.

I just feel like there’s no joy in scarfing down a burger in your car between appointments.

I mean, what’s the rush? I get it—I’m superbusy, and I’m at a stage in my career where I don’t get to exert that much control over my schedule. But I don’t want to rush through my life, and I feel like, in a lot of ways, a green approach to living accommodates more actual happiness. We’re always trying to get somewhere, wanting some new thing, talking on our cell phones—we’re all consumed with things that aren’t in front of us. I’m as guilty of that as the next guy, but these days I’m trying to remind myself, hey, slow down.

To learn more about The Big Green Help, visit www.biggreenhelp.com alternativeapparel.com

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osie aran M

Changing the World One Lipstick Tube at a Time

Josie Maran is just a slip of a person, but she’s trying to turn the beauty behemoth around. The former Maybelline spokesmodel is pioneering a planet-friendly way of looking good, making her three-year-old company, Josie Maran Cosmetics, a proving ground for toxin-free color and skin care products. Here, she tells us about her beauty business makeover.

How did you get interested in sustainability?

I come from a family that’s always been very aware in terms of taking care of the planet.

My dad grew up very socially conscious—a whole clan of protesters, trying to change things for the better—and the way he chose to give back was by building in an eco-conscious way. You know, putting up houses that get as much energy as possible from the sun, and are made from wood from sustainable forests, and so on. And on my mom’s side, she came from a really big family, with twelve brothers and sisters, so she always emphasized the need to be creative with our resources. Her approach was, how do we find a way to reuse this?

Long story short, I honestly can’t remember a time when those “green values” weren’t a part of my life.

What inspired you to launch your company?

The epiphany happened around the time I got pregnant. I mean, as much as those sustainable ideals are floating around your head, it just hits you on a deeper level when you’re about to have a kid. And from a purely business perspective, I saw an opening. Sustainability wasn’t really on the cosmetics industry radar, yet. There was room for something new.

Given that you wanted to create “something new,” was it hard to find people to help you start your business?

Do you feel like you’re fighting the preconception that “eco” beauty products are kind of, you know, ugh?

I had a bit of luck in that regard, because my aunt has written for companies like Ben & Jerry’s and Smith & Hawken, and she’s really tapped into that network of socially active companies. So, I emailed her and said, “I’m going to change the world with lipstick!”

She helped connect me. And once you’re networked in, it’s really inspiring, because you realize that there are people who have been doing this for awhile, marrying business and conscience, and they’re really good at it. So, I did have a foundation to build on.

I knew when I started that I didn’t want to launch a line of products that felt muddy or didn’t have any excitement to them, that’s for sure. There are synthetics out there that give tons of different pigment and last forever, and what I sell has to compete— which goes back to the formulation issue, because it’s not enough for Josie Maran foundation, say, to be good for you and good for the planet. The stuff has to work. The makeup has to be healthy and glamorous.

What’s the toughest thing about making eco-friendly beauty products?

I’m constantly reformulating. Figuring out how healthy an ingredient is can be hard, and then sometimes, just when I think I’ve got a formula down, more research comes out. I have a green chemist helping me out, and hopefully, the formulas I have now will stand up. But if they don’t, I’ll reformulate.

Again.

Is there anyone you look to, business-wise, for inspiration?

Anita Roddick is my hero. She started The Body Shop, and if I ever need to be reminded of the passion—and the balls— that’s required of me if I’m really going to do something different with this line, I just re-read her books. She makes me remember that I’m on a mission. Sometimes, it’s easy to get lost in, like, making things pretty and forget about the fact that this is about changing the world. This is harder than pretty. But it’s more exciting, too.

To learn more about Josie’s eco-friendly beauty products, visit www.josiemarancosmetics.com alternativeapparel.com

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Pressing Play to Save Louisiana Paradise Faded Opens Eyes and Rebuilds Lives

By Aaron Viles of the Gulf Restoration Network

From An Inconvenient Truth to Ken Burns’s National Parks, film has long been an important tool for educating and inspiring action on our environmental challenges. This past August, Alternative partner organization Gulf Restoration Network used a powerful yet little-known documentary tied to an important date to spread the word about the biggest environmental crisis no one knows about.

On or around August 29, 2009, over 125 homes, churches, bars and community centers opened their doors and turned on their DVD players to screen the film, Paradise Faded: The Fight for Louisiana. The documentary is the first project from filmmaker Jared Arsement, a recent graduate of the University of New Orleans film program. It was on a graduation trip, while reading Mike Tidwell’s book, Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast, that Arsement was inspired to document Louisiana’s profound coastal wetlands loss.

If you’re like the vast majority of people who are unfamiliar with the coastal wetlands crisis currently devastating the Mississippi River delta estuary, here’s the story: Due to the levee and jetty system constructed on the Mississippi River to answer the nation’s need for dependable shipping, and further exacerbated by oil and gas canals dredged through Louisiana’s marshes for energy development from the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana loses 25 square miles of coastal wetlands every year. Gone. Turned to open water. That’s the equivalent of a football field of marsh every 45 minutes—and an area the size of Delaware over the past 100 years.

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If you like fresh shrimp, a good cup of coffee, birds, jazz, funk or driving, you should care about this crisis.

Supplying three trillion dollars annually to the U.S. economy, the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast serve as an international gateway for products like coffee, grain, seafood and oil and gas. The Gulf Coast region is the cradle of nearly one third of the total commercial fish and shellfish harvest of the lower 48 states. Critical for migratory birds, the coast is used by up to 40 percent of North America’s duck, geese, swan and eagle populations. Jazz, funk, zydeco and Fats Domino were all born in South Louisiana. Home to the nation’s most important petrochemical complex, the coast produces or transports 30 percent of the nation’s domestic crude oil and 34 percent of its natural gas, while refining 16 percent of our petroleum.

More importantly, do you want to make sure Katrina never happens again?

estimate we have less than ten years as a nation to begin the restoration process.

Louisiana’s natural storm defenses, such as barrier islands, marshes and cypress swamps can protect Louisiana’s coastal communities.

Every three to four miles of wetlands that a storm surge travels over reduces it by one foot. Louisiana’s infamous levees need wetlands to survive hurricane-level storms, and in the face of rising sea levels and stronger storms fueled by climate change, rebuilding these wetlands is the only way to make South Louisiana communities sustainable.

To start building awareness, GRN put out a call to their supporters and activists to host a screening of Paradise Faded on the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Joined in the call-to-action by bands REM, Galactic, Marc Broussard and NOLA music festival The Voodoo Experience, GRN saw their goal of 100 screenings eclipsed, and were thrilled by the response.

With an estimated 50–100 billion dollars required to reengineer the lower reaches of the Mississippi River to reintroduce sediment and freshwater into the marsh, this crisis demands a national commitment. In the face of rising seas, vanishing wetlands and increasing energy costs, coastal scientists

the wetlands of the Mississippi River delta estuary from the residents of 31 states other than Louisiana, as well as Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. In a lobby day following the Katrina anniversary, GRN was able to present signed postcards from constituents to the staff of those states’ Senators, and see the impact of that support firsthand. Better than an e-mail or a phone call, to be able to deliver that clear support at the exact time we were educating the office was critical.

So hit the lights, and press play.

While residents of Louisiana are highly aware of and educated on this crisis, few beyond the state’s boarders truly grasp the magnitude of the problem—or the role the nation’s need for dependable shipping routes and energy supplies have played in creating the crisis.

To order a copy of Paradise Faded, visit http://paradisefaded.com. To support the Gulf Restoration Network’s campaign for the Gulf coast, visit http://healthygulf.org or text the message “coast” to the number 77007.

Standard text messaging rates apply.

These screenings helped generate demonstrated political support for fixing alternativeapparel.com

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Vision of efficiency

The Visionaire Combines Energy-Efficient Solutions with Dazzling, Innovative Design

By now, we’re all familiar with the carbon costs associated with planes, trains and automobiles. But as it turns out, you may be generating almost as many CO₂ emissions just staying home. Buildings in the United States account for approximately 39 percent of the country’s energy use⎯and 68 percent of all electricity. And though there are lots of ways to cut down on the amount of energy your home eats up, such as switching from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs, turning down the air conditioner or the thermostat and unplugging appliances when they’re not in use, increasing numbers of eco-warriors are looking for homes that have built-in efficiency.

Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus (profiled on p.20) is one such eco-warrior. Glickenhaus recently took up residence at The Visionaire, a high-rise in Manhattan’s Battery Park City that boasts a dazzling array of green innovations. To wit: Solar panels on the building’s roof take care of approximately five percent of its electric load, purchased wind power generates an additional 35 percent and numerous measures have been taken to reduce residents’ electricity demands.

Water is conserved just as carefully: The Visionaire features a water treatment system that recycles water into its cooling tower and a rainwater catchment that irrigates the building’s rooftop garden. (The rooftop landscaping also provides an extra layer of insulation for The Visionaire, helping to cool the building in the summertime.) Furthermore, flooring in the condominiums is rift-cut oak harvested according to Forest Stewardship Council standards, which promote forest re-growth; kitchen cabinets are made from renewable bamboo; and fifty percent of the materials used to construct The Visionaire were fully sourced from within a 500-mile radius of Manhattan.

No wonder, then, that the U.S. Green Building Council presented The Visionaire with its highest rating, LEED platinum.

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“This was a natural progression for us,” explains Russell Albanese, whose company, the Albanese Organization, developed The Visionaire. “This is our third green project in Battery Park City, and each time, we’ve built on past experience to make our residences even more eco-friendly.”

Albanese notes that his company embarked on green development because Battery Park City mandated in 2000 that all new buildings in its precincts be constructed to green standards. But the success of the developments the Albanese Organization has completed since then—The Solaire, The Verdesian and The Visionaire—has convinced Albanese to make sustainability a full-time focus for his company.

“There are good, solid, capitalist reasons for transitioning to a sustainable development model,” Albanese explains. “If you look at the marketplace, there’s been a sea-change in the past ten years, in terms of people’s interest in green living. Look at hybrid cars.

Look at Whole Foods. It’s only natural that people would begin to extend the same considerations about their impact on the planet to the place they call home.”

To learn more, visit www.thevisionaire.com

Speak Out

How do you contribute to an eco-friendly way of life?

Alison Sudol

Samantha Lockwood

Crystal Allen

The leader of A Fine Frenzy, Alison was named a “You Oughtta Know” artist by VH1 in 2007. The singer-songwriter’s newly released sophomore album, Bomb in a Birdcage, combines her whimsical language and love of the natural world with a New Wave-y dance-pop vibe. www.afinefrenzy.com

An actress, painter, and innovator, Samantha most recently starred alongside Jason Mewes in the action-comedy Shoot the Hero. She is also the founder of Fleurings, a line of utilitarian jewelry designed to hold fresh flowers. www.fleurings.com

When she’s not appearing in top-rated TV shows or starring in movies like the slithering sequels Anaconda III and Anaconda IV: Trail of Blood, actress and Canada-born beauty Crystal Allen is heating up the kitchen with her green cooking tips. www.crystalallen.com

“I’m constantly trying to learn how to be more eco-friendly—and I know I have a long way to go—but right now I recycle, buy local and organic produce, use an aluminum refillable bottle instead of plastic bottles when I can, drive a hybrid vehicle and use organic products and homemade cleaning solutions as much as possible. When I travel, I unplug my electronics, and I have a clothesline, which is fun to use instead of a dryer...it makes my clothes smell like sunshine and grass. I also buy organic clothing for A Fine Frenzy’s merchandise and try to raise awareness in the people whose ears I have, both personally and professionally. The state of our environment is really quite grim, but it’s encouraging that green living has become the cool thing to do. If the general consensus is that we must develop new plans, fostering alternative ways of living that work with the earth instead of against it, then society will put pressure on big businesses and the government to make real changes. I am definitely optimistic.”

“I live in Los Angeles; that means everyday I wake up and I can see the layer of smog over our beautiful city. Seeing is believing, and that is enough to make me want to change my way of living. I recycle and try to use less of everything—it’s common sense, really. If possible, I walk to get to where I need to go instead of driving. For clothes shopping and grocery shopping I go for organic as much as possible—even household detergents—and bring my own shopping bags. In my house, the lights are off whenever possible, and I use energy-saver light bulbs. I also donate old or used items to Goodwill on a regular basis. I have learned a great deal about being eco-conscious from the good recycling and efficiency habits of others. My friend Billy Lockwood, for example, has a solar wind farm, which I believe is the way of the future. I live by the philosophy that attitude is everything. Change your attitude, change your life—and then you can start to help change the world by living in accordance with nature.”

“I grew up in a household determined to save money on energy bills. Now, one of my favorite ways to save energy is in the kitchen.

I love having dinner parties for at least 14 people, and there are so many simple, easy ways to help the environment through green cooking. For example, run your dishwasher on air dry instead of heat dry; cover your pots when boiling water for quicker cooking; and don’t bother to preheat your oven when baking—there’s no need and it wastes energy. If you must clean your oven, set the self-cleaning cycle immediately after baking; when the oven is already hot, less energy is required for cleaning. I also like to cook with organic produce and grass-fed meat. I make it a point to go to the farmers’ market for locally grown produce—it’s better than buying organic from the supermarket, which has been shipped halfway around the world.”

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Shenae Grimes Same Values, New Zip Code

Actress Shenae Grimes has at least one thing in common with the character she plays on 90210. Like Annie Wilson, the fish-out-of-water ingénue of he CW series, Grimes is a recent transplant to the flash and fabulousness of L.A. But the Toronto native has managed to keep hold of some good old Canadian common sense as she navigates her new life as a celebrity. Here, Grimes clues us in to some eco-tips from up north and owns up to the fact that she’s learned a few things from the City of Angels, too.

You moved to Los Angeles about a year ago, when you were only 18. I’m not sure what the rules are, driving-wise, up in Canada, but did you even have a license?

Oh my god, I never, ever could have imagined that I’d spend so much time in a car! I doubt I would have even bothered to get a license if I hadn’t moved to L.A. In Toronto, I subway-ed everywhere—it’s so much easier.

Have you tried out the L.A. subway system?

There is one….

I don’t think it would get me very far. No, I kind of have my heart set on a hybrid. I mean, you have to be realistic—this past year has been totally overwhelming, I can’t imagine how I could have managed moving, shooting the show, and having this whole “fame” thing happen without my car. But there are some Canadian values I’ve imported. Like recycling—in Canada, recycling is required by law. I’ve been separating the trash my whole life. And I’m seriously shocked anytime I encounter someone who just doesn’t bother.

Do you feel like people your age have more of an eco-consciousness, if only because that’s something they’ve grown up with?

I do think there’s a shift. But even for me, it wasn’t until I saw An Inconvenient Truth in

high school that I understood, this is real.

Maybe you don’t see the changes right in front of you, but they’re happening, and they’re happening right now. And actually, I do feel like I see the changes. In Canada, the seasons are so different—which is something I’ve always loved—but they’re not changing the way they used to. Just these past few years, it’s like, our winters would be sunny, and then some crazy ice storm would blow in, and then it would get warm all of the sudden again. Sporadic, crazy weather. And if this is what it’s like for me, what will the world look like when my kids are my age?

If I can do something—anything, really—to make the world better for them, I should.

What changes have you made in your lifestyle to be more green?

Food is a big priority. I’m trying to eat more locally grown and organic produce. I’m not that old, but I can remember when produce didn’t always look so juicy and pretty. We cover the stuff with germicides, it’s all blown up with hormones…I mean, ugh. I’ve gotten into knowing where my food comes from.

And at the same time, being more conscious of what my body really needs. My diet used to be, god, cookies all the time, burgers, mac ‘n’ cheese. I’ve always been a little girl, size-wise, so that was never an issue, but my energy level was super-low. And meanwhile, it’s like my friend Andrew told me recently, a horse is one of the strongest animals on the planet, and a horse is a vegetarian. Which

definitely made me think maybe I don’t need all those burgers.

It’s such a hectic lifestyle, being on a TV show. Do you find it hard to stay on top of your positive habits?

I’ve got a bad thing for bottled water, which I’m trying to do something about. But in general, it’s my good habits that keep me sane. My green hero is my friend Andrew, the one I just mentioned; he’s got this air, it’s almost intimidating, because he’s such a clean-living guy. But every time I’m around him, I’m inspired by how peaceful and calm he seems. It’s so hard, out here, to get a sense of peace into your life. Now, I just try to emulate him as much as I can.

Given that there’s a young audience for 90210, do you feel a responsibility to set the same kind of example for your fans that your friend Andrew has set for you?

I do feel that. Now that we’re into our second season, and working on the show has gotten to be a bit more of a routine, I’m looking for ways to get out there and promote for the planet. Why be a star if you can’t put some of that “star power” to work?

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Max Lugavere & Jason Silva Bringing Techno-Optimism to the Green Scene

Max Lugavere and Jason Silva are best friends, roommates, and the founding hosts of Current TV, the online-integrated cable network launched in 2005. And just in case Lugavere and Silva didn’t already spend enough time together, the duo are also producing and anchoring Current’s new late-night show, Max & Jason: Still Up, and wrapping up work on the documentary Power. Directed by Hunter Richards (London), the film puts an optimistic spin on sustainability, investigating the sources of clean energy just waiting to be tapped. Here, Lugavere and Silva, both 27, talk to us about turning that climate change frown upside down.

When you guys met, was it like, bro-love at first sight?

MO: There’s been a void on television, which our chairman, Al—

Jason Silva: Well, we met over our mutual interest in a girl.

Or, former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore, if you prefer.

Max Lugavere: But then we very quickly realized we had a lot more than that in common. We were at the University of Miami at the time, and Jason was a double-major in Film and Philosophy, and I was studying Film and Psychology—

ML: That’s the one. The way he sees it, TV is still the most powerful medium. There’s a credibility. Even on Current, you have to be voted on-air by the network’s audience of discerning and passionate and socially conscious viewers. But if the work is good, we provide a platform for people the world over to get out these stories that need to be told, and that aren’t being covered by the traditional news media. We’ve made that our calling.

JS: So, we’d wind up having these long conversations about cinema that always wound up going someplace pretty cerebral. That was what led us to work together on the short that we submitted to Current, before the network launched— ML: Which got us our hosting gig. I think there were, how many?

JS: This is definitely a vocation, not a day-job.

That said, you guys are freelancing…what’s this documentary Power all about?

JS: 4,000 submissions?

ML: The people at Current, I guess they loved our passion, and the whole “buddy” thing we had going, so they hired us.

I see the buddy thing. But what made you want to host Current TV in the first place? I mean, the network launched before YouTube— the concept of airing user-generated video seemed a little wackadoo, back then.

JS: We just really, sincerely believed in the message—this idea that you can empower a generation of storytellers to tell their own stories. Citizen journalism. Grab a cheap camera, edit on your computer, send it our way.

JS: The film is about the future of clean energy. We see it as an optimistic film—it picks up where An Inconvenient Truth left off.

I think now, most of us agree that there’s a problem; this movie, Power, is going to show people what we can do.

ML: And it’s essential that we show people we can do something, because the worst thing about the gloom and doom around global warming is that it makes everyone feel hopeless.

So, what can we do?

JS: Honestly, given the right incentives, there is nothing human beings can’t do. Our technological know-how and ability to make alternativeapparel.com

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breakthroughs is almost beyond comprehension. We just need to refocus our priorities. For example, one of our little Petri dishes in the film is the island of Lanai in Maui County, Hawaii. Lanai is owned by a billionaire who wants to make the island completely sustainable, and the only thing standing in the way of that—in the way of a billionaire trying to take his own island off the grid—is legislation that makes it impossible.

ML: So, obviously, we need to pass some new laws.

JS: It seems like that might happen soon—something similar to what Germany did with the Feed-In Tariff.

The what?

ML: Basically, the Feed-In Tariff created incentives for inventors and entrepreneurs to come in and test clean energy systems.

JS: You would not believe the technology that is already out there.

I mean, really, we’d like people to walk out of this movie scratching their heads and wondering, wait, if this works, why don’t I have more of it in my country?

You still haven’t said what works.

JS: OK, for one example, solar panels. Right now, they’re expensive, they don’t produce enough energy, and we don’t have a way, at the moment, of storing the energy they do produce. But every two years or so, we double our capability in terms of the amount of energy that solar panels can absorb. Meanwhile, every hour, we get enough energy from the sun to power the entire needs of the earth for an entire day.

ML: If we can just invest in those technologies that are already moving exponentially, we’ll have the power in a matter of years to harness the energy of the sun completely.

JS: And then, for another example, there are air compression cars cars with engines that have no moving parts. The technology for that has been around for a hundred years, but at some point, we decided to go with the combustion engine instead.

Just playing devil’s advocate here: Could that have been because the internal combustion engine worked better?

JS: Maybe, and maybe the technology on the air compression engine didn’t advance for the same reason that the salt monopolies tried to forestall the introduction of the refrigerator. Used to be, salt was how you kept food fresh. And every time there was a new invention, like the refrigerator, the salt monopolies would find a way to kill it. They delayed the introduction of the refrigerator into the marketplace for years.

ML: Obviously, the analogy here is the oil and gas companies.

They have a huge stake in preserving the status quo. Ultimately, though, they have to see that it’s in their interest to invest in clean power—the era of fossil fuel is going to end, no matter what. But in the meantime, we’re using Power to give these third-party labs and energy mavericks a voice. And to remind the people who watch the film that they get to vote with their wallets. It’s like with food, every time you buy from the local guy raising grass-fed cattle, you don’t just support him, but you take dollars away from the conglomerates running factory farms.

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I’m not trying to be a stick in the mud, but come on,⎯aren’t you putting a little too much faith in technology? Aren’t we due for a rethink on the ways we consume in general?

ML: We are absolutely, 100 percent techno-optimists. We don’t want people to stop driving their cars, and we don’t want everyone to become vegetarians, and if you can afford to build a mansion, then yeah, go ahead and do that. But if you’ve got that kind of money, then you have the money to install solar panels on your roof.

JS: The way I see it, the compromises we may be asked to make are temporary, until these technologies prove themselves in the marketplace and scale up. A lot of it comes down to infrastructure: We could make hydrogen-powered cars right now, but what does a hydrogen-pumping station look like? How do you replace all the gas stations?

ML: Those kinds of changes aren’t going to happen overnight. But there’s a movement building to make them happen sooner rather than later.

JS: The two of us, we’re just excited that we have the opportunity to articulate an optimistic, seize-the-day point of view. Let’s do this— let’s identify what’s out there, and let’s use the tools at our disposal.

You know, let’s be geniuses.

For more of Max and Jason, visit www.current.com/max-and-jason-still-up

The Future of design

Creating a Holistic Living Space

By Nancy Astrid Lindo of Astrid Design Studio

It is in understanding and integrating a philosophy where all parts of a whole need to work together to be able to function at optimal peak and in perfect harmony. It views buildings with the understanding of the micro and macro impact, the essence that all systems affect one another as being a part of an ecosystem.

Using this philosophy to apply to our system of building and designing allows the industry to apply a new approach to an age-old discipline. These new ways of designing and building look into the past for information and into the future for clues on how to best approach a project.

Sustainable design and building takes into account the building materials and its systems, as well as the finishing materials, furniture and layout—relating everything to one another, reflecting the symbiotic order in nature.

Interior design has traditionally been

associated with the mere decoration and layout of a space—that is, until recently. Over the past several decades, the realm of design has begun to mature into a discipline that is not simply regarded for the aesthetics, but for creating spaces that are inherently healthy, healing and harmonious.

With the growth of the environmental movement, the architecture and design industry has evolved with new roles and responsibilities, taking into account elements such as the revitalization of a local region, the restoration of a watershed and the economic and social improvement of a neighborhood.

We are moving beyond simply designing, building and decorating—we are changing the way people live, work and think about the spaces they inhabit. We are rebuilding communities within the urban fabric which has been torn by decades of poor planning and toxic buildings. This is the dawn of a new place in history, where neighborhoods and cities are joining forces to claim the homes in which they live and engage in their natural habitat.

We have entered a state of designing for a new era—taking into consideration a philosophy and practice that, until recently, was only considered in fringe circles.

In understanding the needs of a client, while observing a site and its surroundings, the information necessary to design and build becomes apparent. The patterns, topography, flora and fauna of a location inform in such a way that allows for designs to integrate rather than segregate. It is a process that is in accordance with nature, taking a systemic and integrative approach to design by using what is available and unique to an area.

In working with the natural elements, such as the makeup of a bio-region, the design intention evolves into the spaces and the building, whose form and function becomes a composition that reflects the ecological culture of a region. By using the natural systems that have been in place for a millennia, innovative technology can be integrated to harness energy and water, creating spaces that have the capacity to provide to municipal grids, rather than feed off of them.

From the sourcing of materials to the lifecycle analysis (LCA) of a product, sustainable design takes into consideration far more than just the need of a product. This measure follows suit with the materials specified in the interior, in addition to the furnishings and décor. Incorporating materials that are benign is crucial to a healthy interior.

The spaces we reside in are now being viewed as living spaces. Seeing our homes through a holistic lens—understanding that our surroundings are a reflection of our innerstate of being—is imperative.

Should we be careless with contaminates in our paint, the synthetics in our furnishings or the products used on our lawn, it is only natural that we will be affected. Moving away from products and furniture that have the potential to off-gas and intoxicate our homes, such as synthetic, petro-based and plastic materials, is necessary to maintain proper indoor air quality and optimum health.

Integrating materials that are made from natural elements and in conditions that take a broader approach to the final product are intrinsic to ecological design. This style of design does not fit into stereotypes, but rather ascends them.

We are moving beyond simply being sustainable, but rather to a place of regeneration and resilience. alternativeapparel.com

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Creating a Green Workplace Tips to Make Your Office Eco-Friendly

By Davida Heller of Ecospire

Ten Tips for Going Green in the Workplace

1.

Implement a “grab a glass” policy. Get rid of plastic water bottles in the office. Americans spend upwards of $15 billion a year on bottled water with no clear health benefit. According to the NRDC, government and industry estimates indicate that about 25–30 percent of the bottled water sold in the United States actually comes from a city’s or town’s tap water. So filtered water is just as safe, if not safer, than bottled water. Instead, have a filtered water station and grab a glass, which can be refilled throughout the day. This will reduce trash, save money and promote sustainability.

2.

Decorate the office with plants. Not only do plants brighten up a workspace with color, but they also clean the air, absorbing toxins and CO₂ while increasing oxygen. This improves indoor air quality, creating a healthier work environment.

3.

Use green cleaning products. This will help improve indoor air quality and reduce toxins in the workplace. Commercial cleaning often involves toxic chemicals, which are released into the air and are then absorbed into our bodies. These chemicals cause serious health problems as well as infiltrate our water supply.

Green cleaning products are less toxic and healthier for janitorial staff and all employees, thus creating a healthier work environment.

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4.

Check and maintain heating and air conditioning systems regularly. According to the EPA, our air quality is two to five times worse indoors than outdoors. A great deal of dust and toxins find their way into our HVAC systems and we breathe them in all day as air is circulated throughout the office space. It is imperative to make sure ducts are sealed and filters are changed regularly in order to reduce health issues among employees, especially for offices that do not engage in natural ventilation, such as opening windows. Reducing air leakage in ducts will also result in increased energy efficiency and save money on energy bills.

5.

Create a paperless office. Review office practices and assess if printing is necessary. When printing is unavoidable, always print double-sided and use 100 percent post-consumer waste FSCcertified recycled paper. This way, you know the paper is certified to be produced from sustainable resources. As demand for recycled paper products increases, prices are going down. Also, there are now paper products made without using any wood fiber at all.

The United States makes up about five percent of the world’s population, but we use 25 percent of the world’s resources and create 40 percent of the world’s waste. It’s not surprising, then, that our businesses are the biggest contributors to this environmental footprint. Thus, a new measure for business success has taken hold, referred to as the triple bottom line, which takes into account not only financial performance, but social and environmental performance as well.

Taking steps to create a green workplace has a number of benefits. A green workplace often has healthier and happier employees, increased job satisfaction and productivity and reduced absenteeism. Involving employees in the process promotes leadership, personal investment and pride in the office environment. Moreover, being eco-friendly connects a business to the local community, which in turn increases awareness of the company.

6.

Create a ride-sharing program. A great way to reduce personal and corporate carbon emissions is to support a ridesharing program for people to carpool to work. Reward those employees that partake in the program with optimal parking spaces, or create an in-office contest with prizes. You should also reward employees that use public transportation and/or ride their bikes to work.

7.

Provide healthy snacks in the office. Offer fresh fruit and healthy snacks to employees, rather than processed food that is high in sugar and fat. Healthy snacks promote productivity. Also consider getting snacks from a farmers’ market to support local farmers and businesses.

8.

Create energy efficiency polices. All devices and electrical equipment including lights, computers and printers should be turned off completely at the end of the day. When equipment is put in “sleep” mode, it still uses energy, which is called phantom energy. Consider energy-efficient lighting and appliances. Smart strips and energy control systems can be useful to help with reducing phantom power and wasted energy loads.

9.

Reduce, reuse, recycle. If you receive a lot of packaged items, reuse the packaging materials whenever possible. Reduce trash loads by implement a recycling program so that all paper, plastic, styrofoam, glass, cardboard, etc. is recycled on a regular basis. Provide each office with a small recycling bin for easy access. Contact your trash hauler to find out more about starting a recycling program if your office building doesn’t currently have recycling.

10.

Offset the company’s carbon emissions. It’s important to reduce carbon emissions as much as possible. For most businesses, cutting down carbon emissions is still a work in progress, as employees travel to meet with customers and energy is used on a daily basis. Offsetting carbon emissions is a way to reduce your environmental impact until you can reduce emissions completely. Organizations like www.carbonfund.org, for example, provide an easy process for businesses and individuals to offset their carbon emissions.

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Constance White Reshaping the Marketplace with Sustainable Shopping

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Constance White is nothing if not multi-media.

A former style reporter for the New York Times, the founding fashion director of Tina Brown’s legendary albeit short-lived TALK magazine, and the author of the book StyleNoir, White made the leap from print to video when she became the first news correspondent for Full Frontal Fashion. Soon after that, White went virtual as the style director at eBay, where she does everything from blogging about runway trends to spearheading strategic alliances with buzz designers. As White point outs, eBay got on the ecobandwagon awhile ago. Not only has the site long been a favorite source for secondhand goods, but last year eBay completed construction of a LEED-certified building on its campus in San Jose. Here, Constance White explains how everyone wins by bidding on green.

The first thing people think about when they hear “eBay” is secondhand. Vintage clothes, used iPods, stuff like that. But I was looking at the site again the other day⎯shopping for vintage— which is what I do there—and it struck me that secondhand now comprises a relatively small portion of what eBay sells.

If you look at the NET/Nielsen ratings, eBay is actually the number one fashion site on the web. Period. People shop for used clothing and accessories, they shop for things sellers have purchased and then never worn and they also shop for new. We embrace all of it.

I mention that, because people automatically associate secondhand with sustainability—it’s a form of reusing and recycling, and so on—but eBay makes most of its money selling new stuff at this point. And so I wonder, where does a drive toward sustainability fit into that part of the business?

First of all, shopping on eBay is always a greener option than going to the mall, because you’re using less energy, less resources searching for an item online than you would if you got in the car and drove around looking for it. Another advantage is that, you know, not everyone has local access to the environmentally sound products or brands they may be looking for. But you can be out in the middle of nowhere, and if you decide that you want to buy organic sheets or t-shirts, you can find them on eBay. We’re seeing a lot more of those kinds of searches lately, and we’re really trying to optimize the site to help people find those things. We’ve also broadened our Green Team initiative this year—that’s been an internal project, but we’ve opened it up to consumers now, because it’s clear they are interested—and we recently launched the site World of Good.

I’m not familiar with World of Good. What is it?

The premise is that it’s a home for people who want to buy in an environmentally conscious and socially conscious way. Anything sold there has to pass a certain bar—either it’s a product that’s environmentally sound, or its manufacturer helps to sustain a community or it’s animal-friendly. All of that is vetted, by the way.

We really want to encourage people to bring their values in line with their behavior as shoppers; ultimately, that’s how you reshape the marketplace.

I hear that message a ton—that once consumers start putting their money where their mouth is, eco-wise, corporations will get on board. And I push back on that a little, because, I mean, it’s a twoway street. I know that my behavior as a consumer is shaped by the corporations I interact with, and for that matter, by the whole infrastructure—physical and financial—that supports them. It’s not that I decline responsibility for how I live, but at the end of the day, I’m one person. Whereas a corporation—eBay, for instance—makes decisions that touch millions of people. Shouldn’t businesses be shouldering a bit more weight in terms of creating change?

There are issues here you’re asking about that I can’t really address as the style director of eBay. But I can speak to them on my own behalf, and me, personally, I do believe that change has to start with individuals. And I believe that we’re already seeing that. I mean, companies are putting out their green bonafides now as a positive point of differentiation; they realize that consumers care. I think the initiatives I was mentioning at eBay, like Green Teams and World of Good, mark the company’s recognition not that it has an obligation to build momentum behind the sustainability movement, but that there is a huge business opportunity in doing so. I think we were ahead of the curve there. Beyond that, corporations have the same responsibility to cut down on waste that individuals do. And per that, I do agree with you, because a company-wide change is a big change.

Even when it’s something small, like switching out the light bulbs.

What do you—as an individual, as a consumer—personally find most challenging about trying to live more sustainably?

That’s a tough one. In general, I think I’m pretty good. I watch how much water I use, I eat organic, I recycle, I’m moderate in how I consume. The challenge is more about time. Finding the time to buy the organic food, instead of just running to the closest store and buying whatever. That’s one example, but a lot of the trouble I run into comes down to time. That’s part of why I believe eBay is such an excellent tool for going green—it’s an incredibly time-efficient way to shop, because you’ve got the whole world at your fingertips.

To learn more about Green Team and World of Good, visit www.ebay.com

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Bree Turner Sheds Light on the Small Stuff Bree Turner is taking it one day at a time.

The dancer turned actress, who co-starred with Katherine Heigl in this summer’s rom-com The Ugly Truth, has resolved to make her lifestyle a little greener, day by day. Sometimes that means switching out her incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents; sometimes that means heading to Malibu to help the good folks from the Surfrider Foundation clean up the beach.

And sometimes, Turner does the Los Angeles unthinkable: She walks. Here, she talks to us about her sustainable style.

You grew up in the Bay Area. People always think about that part of the country as being really progressive on the environment;⎯was eco-consciousness something you grew up with?

God, not at all. My upbringing was very typically all-American. We ate fast food, we went to Costco. And I have three brothers, so for my parents, it was all about, how do we feed our family? The environment wasn’t on my radar at all. I mean, it’s not like I was out clubbing baby seals and burning tires, but…. [Laughs.] Now, finding ways to reduce my carbon footprint, that’s part of my day, everyday. I figure I can take one action each day to be more carbon-conscious. And even if it’s a small thing, it’s still relevant.

What are some of the changes you’ve made?

It can be as simple as, today, every time I walk out of a room, I’m going to make sure I turn off the lights. I’ve switched the bulbs out in my house, I’m eating more locally grown foods, I’m driving less. In L.A., that can be hard, cutting down on the driving.

But there are bonuses to walking. Like, if I

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walk to the market, I’m getting exercise and fresh air, and I’m meeting my neighbors. I feel like I’m part of a community when I walk.

Have you noticed other bonuses to living more sustainably?

Absolutely. If you’re turning off the lights, you save money on electricity. If you eat fresher food, you feel better. And the food tastes better—I taste the difference now. I think that a lot of these choices make for a nicer lifestyle, really.

I know you’re involved with the Surfrider Foundation, which works to conserve the ocean and the beaches. How did you get interested in that cause?

This sounds kind of silly, but honestly, I saw a bunch of bumper stickers. Bumper stickers—they work! I was curious, so I went online and looked up Surfrider, and what really appealed to me was the fact that it was this local startup launched by a few surfers in Malibu, and initially, it served the beaches I actually go to. I’ve been involved for, I guess, five or six years; now Surfrider

is global. And that’s great, but it was the local-ness that made what they were doing so meaningful to me. I started out donating money, but then I decided I really wanted to donate my time, too—they really need manpower. So when I can, I go to Malibu and do weekend beach clean-ups.

What’s your biggest challenge, in terms of “going green?”

Well, sticking to the little things, on the one hand, and on the other hand, not getting overwhelmed by the idea that I have to totally remake my life. I’m redoing my bathroom right now, for example, and I bought all green materials for the bathrooms, but then I see these brand new, all-green homes in the design magazines and I start to panic about the fact that I live in a 1974 condo with poor insulation. Not getting stressed out about all the things that are out of your control and instead embracing the changes that you can make— that’s my biggest challenge. I have to keep reminding myself, the small stuff counts, too.

For more information on the Surfrider Foundation, visit www.surfrider.org

Bamboo in the 21st century The Ultimate Natural Resource

By Bruce Dear of Pure Bamboo Alternative and renewable materials

have been around for thousands of years. So why is it now that we are getting back in touch with what we’ve known all along? A recent surge in alternative materials has flooded the marketplace and bamboo is at the center of this trend—and with good reason. As one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet (with some varieties growing up to three feet a day), bamboo has seen a spike in demand over the last few years. Praised not only for its eco-friendly status but for its versatility and beauty, bamboo is well-positioned to meet the demands of a growing population.

According to the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), the global bamboo industry supports over one and a half billion people, and one could argue that most everyone on our planet is touched by bamboo in one way or another. The global bamboo industry is currently worth around $11 billion per year and is estimated to reach $15–$20 billion per year by 2018 (source: Prosperity Initiative). Currently, about one billion people live in bamboo houses, as indicated by INBAR. Since bamboo is actually a grass, once harvested, the root system is left intact, which allows for rapid re-growth to maturity in as few as five years for the purposes of lumber.

For weaving baskets or consumption, even less time is needed—as little as one year. An equivalent grove of bamboo will absorb 45 percent more carbon from the atmosphere than a similar grove of trees. It’s even been postulated that if enough bamboo was planted, it could reverse the effects of global warming. Bamboo requires no pesticides or fertilizers to maintain these rapid growth rates, making it an eco-suitable alternative to many other crops which require even minimal amounts of chemicals. There are over 1,300 species of bamboo, and it grows on all continents which also naturally inhabit people.

Two little-known facts about bamboo: Alexander Graham Bell used a bamboo needle to produce the first sound recording on a phonograph and Thomas Edison used a bamboo filament which helped lead to his invention of the light bulb. The filament shone for 2,450 hours! Subsequently, General Electric

made bulbs with bamboo filament for the next 14 years.

In the last few decades, agricultural advances have increased farming knowledge of bamboo, which has given way to an increased range of products and valuation. The newest product to come from this versatile resource is clothing. “Clothing from bamboo?” you’re probably thinking. Yes, the process used to manufacture the fabric is very similar to the production of rayon. The woody stalks are harvested then mashed down, and the cellulosic fibers are broken down with a chemical process that forms it into a thick viscose. The viscose is shot out of a spinneret (think shower head), which makes long fibers that are eventually spun or woven into a fabric.

Recently, there has been some controversy over the green status of bamboo fabric, due to this chemical processing. Often times, we think of a product as being “eco-friendly” or “not eco-friendly,” when the truth is, it’s about shades of green. Almost every product we consume has some negative impact on the environment. As a result, some feel it important to point to the one aspect of the production of bamboo fabric that may not be as environmentally friendly (the chemical processing) and claim bamboo is not an eco-friendly product. It is the humble opinion of this writer that the many, many benefits and applications of bamboo greatly outweigh a few possible negative attributes of one iteration (fabric) of this amazingly renewable and versatile resource.

The bottom line is: Bamboo is here to stay. From filaments in light bulbs to food supplements and furniture, from musical instruments and snowboards to bicycles (bamboocycles), buildings and bedding, it’s everywhere—and growing fast. With an ever-increasing population, material resources that are rapidly renewable and versatile, that require no fertilizer or pesticides, are essential to our pathway to sustaining life on this planet. So, the next time you are out shopping and see a product made from bamboo—and you will—you can rest easy knowing there’s an abundance to be found, just possibly making it the ultimate resource for the 21st century. alternativeapparel.com

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Nina Clemente Gets Back to Basics

Food: It’s not just for breakfast anymore. What we eat has become the hot button topic du jour, thanks to books like Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma and films such as Food, Inc. And the issue touches everything from climate change to health and healthcare to international relations. For cook Nina Clemente, however, these matters boil down to a set of back-to-basics principles: Buy local, eat fresh, and most important of all, enjoy. Here, the former host of Cucina di Nina tells us what to mangia—and why.

Did you always know you wanted to be a cook?

It’s more like this has been a journey back to my roots. I grew up in New York City, but I was born in Italy, and every summer, my family would go back there. My mother is from Amalfi, which is a seaside town, and her house has this amazing garden. So, I have these memories of eating the most beautiful, fresh produce and watching my mom cook, and my grandfather. That’s the Italian thing, you learn about food in the family. But it wasn’t until I picked up and moved to California about a year and a half ago that I got into the food world. Just before I moved out, I visited the farmers’ market in L.A. and I was blown away—blocks and blocks of fruits and vegetables. And it was like, ahhh. I’m home.

What’s your favorite thing to cook?

I’m not sure I have one favorite thing; for me, it’s more about the experience of going to the market and seeing what’s good that day, then figuring out what do with it. Or, when I’m cooking for someone else, I love walking into the kitchen, opening up the cupboards and the fridge, and asking myself, hmmm, how do I pull this together? As long as there’s olive oil and garlic, I can definitely come up with a dish. The whole point of Cucina di Nina, really, was to show people that they can make a great meal from whatever’s around, as long as they’re aware of certain fundamentals.

Speaking as a kitchen-phobic, the word “fundamentals” is terrifying. It makes me worry that I need to know how to make, for instance, a béarnaise sauce.

Please. Cooking is not that hard. Not if all you want to know is how to make a few things that are delicious and healthy. On my show, I wouldn’t use a lot of exact measures—it was more, a handful of this, a pinch of that. Even that makes the process more accessible.

The whole conversation around food has gotten so politicized, lately—are you absorbed in those debates?

I think the most important thing is just to get the word out about how to eat. My generation is a little shifty, in terms of our relationship with food. I mean, the fact that a bottle of soda is cheaper than a bottle of water is basically traumatizing to me. We’re incentivizing people to consume this sugary crap. And not even sugar! Soda, that’s fructose, which is really the worst of the worst.

And then on the other hand, the whole obsession with diets appalls me, too. It’s all about indulging in moderation. I really feel like we need to re-learn some of the basics. If you can teach yourself how to shop for healthy ingredients, and make just a few things that are fresh and easy and great, you’re going to develop a taste for that, and you’re going to wind up teaching your kids to eat that way, and your friends.

I’m interested in what you say about needing to learn how to shop for food. I think most people consider that a no-brainer.

If I walk into a deli and see a snack, I flip it over and read the label.

I’m not so much looking for the fat or the calories, but I’ll read the ingredient list. If it’s a paragraph, well, I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be consuming something that requires a paragraph-length description of what went into making it. I don’t want all that stuff in my body!

Not just the chemicals and the preservatives, but also, the more ingredients, the more you have to ask yourself, where did this stuff come from? I mean, literally, where did these ingredients originate?

And how did they wind up in this snack item? It’s just about being conscious of where your food comes from. And I always tell people, ask questions! Ask your vendors! Even in Whole Foods, if I’m buying fish, I’ll ask, can I smell that? At the farmer’s market, I mean, I’m chronically known for going to all the stands and munching raw beans. But that’s your right. Taste stuff. Smell it. Ask questions. Get into your food.

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Kelly Rutherford From Glam to Green

Kelly Rutherford got her first taste of life at the red-hot center of the zeitgeist when she joined the cast of Melrose Place back in the ‘90s. These days, the actress finds herself in another mustwatch show about glamorous people doing nasty things. As Lily van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl, Rutherford summons unexpected warmth and decorum in the role of a Park Avenue climber with a wild child past. Meeting Rutherford, you realize that the warmth and decorum is no act; even when she’s toting around her newborn and cracking jokes, she exudes an uncommon poise. Here, she talks about conspicuous consumption, eco-style.

I noticed you walked in here with a FEED bag on your shoulder.

(The FEED bag is a reusable tote sold to raise money for food for children in need.) Those bags are pretty trendy—I could sort of see Lily van der Woodsen running around the Upper East Side with a FEED bag on her shoulder.

water supply and feeding chemicals back into the environment. The added expense is minimal, and it’s absolutely worth it.

Wouldn’t that be great? We actually gave FEED bags as the gift to cast and crew last Christmas. I think something like 25,000 kids in Rwanda got meals because we gave out those bags.

Well, motherhood changes your perspective on everything, really.

It definitely made me want to set up a household that was clean and healthy. But more than that, I think it changed my whole mindset about consuming. I’m materialistic, I like things. I’d never say otherwise, but I started to feel this craving for a simpler life; I wanted to shed what was unnecessary and stop competing in that “look what I have” way. In L.A., you can get wrapped up in thinking what your car says about you—what it tells people about your status. Buying a hybrid was a way of sidestepping that. It’s trendy now to drive one, but even so, if that’s what you’ve got, you’re not really playing that game.

I’m serious, though: Gossip Girl has so much influence over pop culture right now, it seems like something as simple as having Lily carry a FEED bag in one episode would have a gigantic impact.

Personally, I’d love to turn Gossip Girl into a total eco-machine. But I think it goes without saying that the show has to be true to itself, and the world it represents. I mean, we’re talking about a character who lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. And speaking as someone who’s constantly back and forth between the east and west coasts, it seems like the reusable tote bag thing, and ecoconsciousness in general, hasn’t penetrated New York the way it has in L.A. Not yet, anyway.

Now that I think about it, Lily van der Woodsen undoubtedly has her groceries delivered. But you could argue that New Yorkers are at an automatic advantage, sustainability-wise, because they mostly live in small apartments, and they walk.

That’s true—not that anyone should be complacent. I mean, there are so many greener things we could all be doing, and if we all did them, it would make a huge difference. If you’re going to get an iced tea, get it from the place with the biodegradable cups. Stay away from beauty products with parabens. Eat organic food. Wear organic clothes. And make sure that your household products are all nontoxic. Speaking as a mother, that one’s really important: Why would you want all these chemicals around, for your kids to breathe in or get into? It’s your home. I just feel safer using cleaning supplies from a brand like Seventh Generation. And I like knowing that when those products get washed down the drain, they’re not toxifying the 44

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Has becoming a mother changed your perspective on sustainability?

It’s interesting that you say that, because one argument that’s come out of the green think-a-torium advocates making “eco” an aspirational thing.

Well, I know I aspire to be greener. I have those days where I don’t get my iced tea from the place with the biodegradable cups and it sends me into a guilt spiral. I think it’s important to focus less on that guilty feeling and more on what’s positive. You want your kids to be healthy; you want your life to be simpler. And something like shopping for the cutest organic kids’ clothes, that’s fun. Let’s focus on the fun part.

That sort of brings me back to Gossip Girl. There has to be a way to get some eco-aspirational storyline into that show.

What, like Chuck Bass bicycling around New York and becoming best friends with Ed Begley Jr.?

Next time, on Gossip Girl….

Maybe. I think maybe not, though.

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Chris Kattan

Growing Up Zen

Over the course of his ten-season run on Saturday Night Live, Chris Kattan created more than a few memorable characters— Mango, for example, the exotic dancer with a maddening allure, and those world-class cheeseballs, the Roxbury Guys. But in real life, Kattan plays another role. Call him Mr. Just-Unplug-It. Here, the comedian, who made his return to the small screen this fall in the ABC sitcom The Middle, tells us what Buddhist monks have to do with his fetish for electrical efficiency.

I read somewhere that your stepfather studied to become a Zen Buddhist monk alongside Leonard Cohen. Is that true?

True. When I was a kid, I moved with my mom to Mount Baldy in Southern California, because my stepdad found the Zen Center there and he wanted to be close to his Roshi. He and Leonard Cohen actually got ordained together, meaning, my stepdad was in fact a monk.

Sounds like a hijinks-filled childhood, you and the monks….

It wasn’t the most fun place to be a kid. You get antsy. I mean, everyone was really into meditating. But there was a lot I got out of the experience. I mean, we were up in the mountains, probably half an hour from the nearest store, so my mom made soap, she made our clothes, and she started her own garden with these amazing vegetables. I ate really, really well. And it’s funny, because a lot of the stuff people talk about now as “green,” we were doing back then as a matter of survival. We had a…well, we mulched, we ate leftovers. And I don’t mean we re-heated the previous night’s dinner—I mean, we’d save bacon grease and find a way to use it.

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Are you making your own soap when you’re not performing?

Ha. Right. I live in L.A., so I go to Trader Joe’s for my cleaning products. But that general approach, in terms of conserving your resources, that’s definitely stayed with me. Anytime I leave a room, I turn off the lights—it’s like my mom’s in my head, reminding me. And the same goes for unplugging whatever you’re not actually using. I’ve gotten in the habit of doing that for other people.

I bet those other people really love it when you unplug things for them.

Oh man, I’d get in so many fights with my ex-girlfriend, because I’d turn off her

computer when she wasn’t using it. Only, in her mind, she was always about to use it, so she’d come back and be like, “Hey! I was using that!” And I’d always say, “But you weren’t using it when I unplugged it….” And so on.

I’m trying to think if there would be some kind of proportional eco-revenge for that.

Like, installing a timer on the shower….

Except I’m already pretty conscious about that stuff. I’ve got all my sprinklers on timers, for example. I know that kind of thing is good for the planet in the long run, but to be honest, that’s just how I was raised.

Me and the monks.

Greg Alterman

Turning Ideas into Reality When Alternative Chief Creative Officer Greg Alterman sets his mind to something, there’s no going back. With the same unwavering spirit and determination that helped him to elevate the tee from a casual basic to a fashion-forward staple, Greg is committed to changing the way we live for the better. Here, the business owner and activist discusses what we can all do to bring our dreams of a greener world to life—without cramping our style.

Launching the Think Earth campaign was a huge—and highly successful—undertaking for Alternative in 2009. What steps is the company taking to increase its green involvement for 2010?

We’ve worked hard to develop strong relationships with leading environmental and social nonprofit organizations to raise awareness and promote eco-consciousness on every level, from environmentalism and health issues to education and community development. One of the main charities we’ll be working with during the coming year is Global Green USA, a national environmental nonprofit dedicated mainly to green building. We’ve just added a new Think Earth t-shirt to our collection, for which 100 percent of the net proceeds will benefit Global Green. We’ll also be expanding our Alternative Earth line, offering customers more eco-friendly styles to choose from.

things like that which can really add up. The charity: water website spells it out in a way that we can all understand: Our planet is 70 percent water. 97.5 percent of that is salt water. That means that only two and a half percent is available for the six billion people on the planet today.

What are you doing to reduce your carbon footprint outside of the workplace?

As someone who has put his creative talents to use to contribute to green living, what advice do you have for others looking to make a difference?

Well, I’m actually in the process of building a new house right now, and I’ve decided to do what I can to build a green home, inside and out. I’m installing solar panels, as well as a solar-heated pool and solar lighting system in the backyard. I’ve also been researching high-efficiency water systems—it’s the small

Making a change is not about rearranging your whole life and cramping your style— it’s about doing what you can to work it into your lifestyle. And the decision to do the right thing—from recycling to buying organic to using green building materials—is

becoming easier every day. It’s only a matter of time before many eco-conscious decisions become laws. But until then, we have to actively make a choice to incorporate green thinking into our everyday lives in small ways, so that it becomes second nature.

If you weren’t the founder and designer of Alternative, what else could you see yourself doing?

I would definitely still be doing something creative. Maybe interior design or architecture—or an inventor. One of my talents has always been the ability to see clearly from a conceptual standpoint in a way that allows my ideas to come to fruition and turn the imaginary into reality.

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58,345 Hours For Clean Water The Engreda Project

by Scott Harrison of charity: water

Sitting on a plastic chair in the Engreda village Baptist church, tucked away in the rural hills of Eastern India, I sat and listened to Junash, 41, deliver a speech. Men and women had gathered here to thank us for funding a piped water system that brings clean and safe drinking water down from a new well in the mountains, and Junash was explaining what had happened here.

Not anymore.

I learned that the 567 residents of Engreda had big problems with water. Their primary source for years had been a polluted stream in the valley beneath the village, which I saw a few moments later.

The people had petitioned our implementing partner Gram Vikas to help them with the water problem. But before bringing clean water to Engreda, Gram Vikas asked villagers to give a year of their time to construct toilets and bathing rooms on faith.

For Gram Vikas to work in a community, 100 percent of the people must agree and contribute, and after a short time, they did.

But their involvement didn’t stop there.

After all 130 toilets and bathing rooms were constructed, community members then helped lay pipe from the well Gram Vikas constructed high in the mountain near a spring. It was tough going. Villagers spent more than a month breaking stones in the rocky ground, but beamed with pride at their achievement.

For over 30 years, Gram Vikas has taken a unique approach to development work. For them, sanitation is the key to good health, and community participation is the key to sustainability. “Sanitation” meant toilets and showers here; “participation” —a year-plus of hard work.

I sometimes hear people accuse those in the developing world of laziness. But the more I travel, the more I find that’s just not true.

Communities like Engreda give what they have, even if it’s not the cold cash that comes easier for many of us. Written on the wall next to our contribution was theirs, and while not

“In the stream, we would remove a little bit of sand, and the water would ooze out into it.

We used to drink that, and the children and adults used to get diarrhea,” Junash said.

“We are poor. Whatever savings we had, we spent on curing our waterborne diseases. The poor remained poor.”

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Through charity: water’s partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue last year, more than $540,000 was raised—enough for 100 water projects in Honduras, India and Ethiopia. Engreda was one of those projects, but the water running from their taps came at a higher price than our funding.

Junash said Gram Vikas’s proposal was initially met with some resistance, as each of Engreda’s 130 families would have to do a “lot of work” that would cost “a lot of money.”

in the form of a check, its value far exceeded ours.

The stone, bricks, gravel and labor the people of Engreda added to the project came to $19,851. At least half of that was sweat equity and calculated at the going rate of 17 cents an hour. For comparison, if their labor took place in the United States, where hourly minimum wage is $6.55, they’d have contributed more than $364,000 of labor value—58,345 hours. In that light, charity: water’s $7,822 contribution for the hard costs of piping, taps and the water tower was a steal.

Back at the Gram Vikas compound later that evening, the project coordinator smiled when she learned I’d visited Engreda. “Yes, they’re very happy there. They tell us the water tastes better than coconut milk.”

I had to agree. (charity: water supported 38 village water systems in 2008, and hopes to fund at least 50 more in 2009. To support a village in India, you can donate here. 100 percent of your money will be matched with villagers’ labor to transform communities with clean drinking water. www.charitywater.org) alternativeapparel.com

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Melissa Meister

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And Her Eco-Chic Sustainable Style

Anyone who’s watched The Rachel Zoe Show has probably gotten the impression that fashion stylists are responsible for at least a third of the carbon emissions in Los Angeles. Dresses, shoes, baubles and handbags FedExed by the dozens from New York and Paris, glanced at, and air-mailed back. Assistants in SUVs driving to every store in spitting distance of Beverly Hills. Countless cups of Starbucks caffeinating the frenzy for stuff, stuff and more stuff. But if fashion styling seems, unavoidably, to be profession all about more, Melissa Meister proves that real style comes from doing more with less.

It’s only recently that people outside the fashion industry have realized that styling is, you know, an actual job. But pretty much everyone is still a little fuzzy on what exactly a stylist does. So, what do you do?

It depends. If I’m working on a commercial, say, I’m pulling clothes from stores and showrooms that I use to create the look at the shoot. When I work with my clients, the process is similar, but it’s tailored to their personal sense of style. Like, right now I’m working a lot with Serena [Williams], because she’s just published a book, and so she has a lot of press going on—talk shows, photo shoots, personal appearances.

Did you always want to be a stylist?

I always wanted to work in fashion in some capacity, but styling was something I kind of fell into. I was working as a commercial model and dancer in order to pay the bills while I made clothes in my garage, and I wound up making clothes for the Dixie Chicks to wear on tour. Their stylist kind of showed me the ropes—I assisted her for six months and then struck out on my own. But then, because a lot of my friends were producers and directors, I got kind of sidetracked into costume design. Now I do both. Like, I was the New York costume designer for Sherlock Holmes, which is how I met Guy Ritchie.

Most stylists get into the business because they want to work on editorial shoots, with

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models, or because they want to work with actresses and do red carpet. You seem to eschew both those things.

I’ve done that stuff, and I came out the other end of it feeling like it was a lot of smoke and mirrors. I had one of those crises, you know, where I was like, how do I make this work meaningful? To me, to other people.

I’m very committed to the concept of service. And around the same time, I was educating myself about climate change and learning about all the things we should be doing to mitigate our impact on the planet, and it seemed like it would be a service to implement those ideas into my work.

How do you do that? At the end of the day, styling is a pretty consumption-driven profession. You’ve got to get the look that’s “now,” you know?

It’s challenging. First of all, just in terms of my business operations, I try to reduce waste as much as I can. Anybody who’s ever assisted me knows, we write on both sides of any sheet of paper, and we never throw away a hanger. I’m notorious for returning garments to stores and, if I think they’re just going to toss the shopping bag, asking to keep it. That kind of thinking extends to my personal life, too—I’m always carrying around empty bottles, looking for a place where I can recycle them. The idea of putting a plastic bottle into the garbage makes me nauseous at this point. Beyond that, I use a lot of vintage in my work, and I

remake vintage myself. And I try to support designers who are producing sustainably.

I’ll be honest—it’s a challenge. Legitimately sustainable design is hard to find, because most stores don’t carry it, and a lot of brands that claim to be green aren’t, really. The onus is on me to do the research, and figure out what’s legit.

Do you get any pushback from your clients?

Well, when you’re dealing with people who are accustomed to luxury products, getting them into an eco-mindset can be a challenge.

It’s like, after you’ve been driving a great big SUV with all the toys, buying a hybrid can feel like a sacrifice. And it’s the same with clothes—you’re going to have a hard time convincing someone that they can swap out six designer dresses for one that can be worn a dozen different ways. I feel like my role is to show clients that they can do more with less, but other than that, I keep my mouth shut. No one likes being preached to. More than anything, I just try to lead by example.

Have you converted anyone?

Well, Serena still teases me about my ecoobsessions, but then again, we’re cleaning out her closet now, picking out things she can donate to charity, and I think that would have been a much harder process for her just a few years ago. She’s come around to the idea that she doesn’t need quite so much stuff. I think we’re all amenable to some change, we just need to be exposed and re-exposed to the information about how to make those changes effectively. There’s no point buying a recyclable bottle of water from Whole Foods if you don’t know how to dispose of it properly, for example.

Concrete Tomato

Building a Greener Garden

By Daniel Vandenbark of DEZINE, Inc. I read an article recently which tried to claim that the way to a greener landscape could be achieved by reducing the plants and adding hardscape. I dread the thought of all these gardens becoming like the concrete jungles we are accustomed to in our cities.

Haven’t we learned anything from urban planning and the heat island effects taking place in our large cities?

Trees, shrubs, plants and vines are all key players in keeping our planet’s chemistry in balance—a fact which we are all pretty in tune with these days. But what will it take to get people in tune with proper planning in their own projects? All too often, in a typical residential landscape, the objective of planting trees is to block a view of our neighbor. What would happen if we instead planted a deciduous tree where it would provide our home with shade in the summer and filtered sun in the winter? Then we could also measure its success, or value, by the CO₂ it is removing from our air as well as its ability to reduce our consumption of electricity—from air conditioning during the summer months and fossil fuels burned to keep us warm during the winter—and minimize the pollutants that are emitted into our atmosphere.

Planting trees may not be an option for everyone, but there are few of us who don’t have the means to plant and nurture a garden. Ask a child where carrots come from and they will most likely tell you the grocery store. But why does everything that we put on our tables these days have to come from a grocery store? Well, despite popular belief, it doesn’t. When I was growing up in Colorado, I would visit my great-grandparents who lived in Denver. Besides loving them to death, I always had the best time at their house because we got to pick through the garden with them. Their home was simple and modest, surrounded neighboring houses with small yards just like most of us today.

Yet, even with only a tiny triangle section of ground for his garden, my great-grandfather knew the value he could make for his

family. Not an inch of ground was spared, and depending on the season, you could find everything from carrots and cabbage to apples and grapes. And in my greatgrandpa’s garden, the only concrete in sight were the recycled stepping stones that he had taken from a broken landing.

I am an admitted eco-optimist; however, gardens, to me, are the true pinnacle of growing green in our daily lives. Gardens are a chance to celebrate life and invite tranquility into our homes. They are a place to escape, breathe deeply and forget about the hustle and bustle that awaits us tomorrow.

Gardens are a place for us to share with our family and friends.

If you do not have the time or energy to plan your garden, consider hiring a professional who is knowledgeable about irrigation, drainage and, of course, the individual plants. Place an emphasis on using plants that are native to your region and seek the talent of a specialist who takes the time to develop a long-term plan for your garden’s evolution through the years.

While concrete is a marvelous material and often serves great purpose in a design and function, it is, to be quite frank, the lazy person’s way to a greener garden. Be creative, think outside the box and determine how to minimize the use of concrete so that other materials can add value and aesthetic to your landscape. Gardens can be green— they just need to be planned properly. alternativeapparel.com

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THINK | earth Featured Charities charity: water www.charitywater.org Global Green www.globalgreen.org Gulf Restoration Network www.healthygulf.org Surfrider Foundation www.surfrider.org

Special Thanks To A Fine Frenzy Albanese Organization, Inc. Alicia Silverstone Ben Kutsko Bruce Dear Chris Kattan Crystal Allen Davida Heller Diana Coney Jason Silva Josie Maran Kelly Rutherford Matt Petersen Max Lugavere Melissa Meister Nikki Iannelli Nolan Gerard Funk People’s Revolution Pure Bamboo Robert James Hoffman III Samantha Lockwood Shenae Grimes

Aaron Viles Alejandra Nerizagal Anthony Cristiano Bree Turner Carla Ortiz Constance White Daniel Vandenbark Davis Factor and Team Helene Macauley Jesse Cameron-Glickenhaus Karina Smirnoff Matt Albiani Maya Singer Melissa Rogers Nancy Astrid Lindo Nina Clemente Patrik Andersson Petit Ermitage Ryan Rickett Scott Harrison Zach Gilford www.zoinkonline.com

STAFF Editor-in-Chief Molly Raney Writer and Senior Editor Melissa Metcalf Art Director Lee Tesche Graphic Designers Ian Darken Danielle Harris Production Coordinator Meagan Judkins

Media Contact For questions and inquiries please contact: Molly Raney PR, Media & Events 678.924.5207 molly@alternativeapparel.com People’s Revolution Emily Bungert 212.274.0400 emily.bungert@peoplesrevolution.com

••• All talent pictured wearing Alternative Earth products.

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