I was recently offered a body pillow set from Tree Hugger Pillows to review, and the timing couldn’t be better. With my wife 5 months pregnant, a body pillow is a comfort she couldn’t resist. This got me thinking though- what makes a pillow eco-friendly? It’s all about the fill. Even though I hadn’t heard of it until recently, Kapok …
Make a Green Move: What to Look for in a City to Be More Eco-Friendly
After living in your current city for a while, you might be ready for a change. Fortunately, in terms of deciding where you want to move, you pretty much have carte blanche. You are confident that you can find work wherever you live, you are great at making friends and your family is welcome to visit whenever they want. After …
Cork, Cats and a Panda
As many of you know, I am a big fan of the multiple uses of sustainable cork. Beautiful, versitile, and sustainably grown and harvested, cork really is a super material. I recently was contacted by some great folks at the World Wildlife Fund charity regarding a crowdfunding project on Earth Hour. Put on by WWF Portugal the project aims to …
7 Eco-friendly uses for Hemp
Hemp (Cannabis sativa) has long been associated with the marijuana plant due to its relation and resemblance, however, hemp does not produce the same THC drug as its relative. Still illegal to grow throughout much of the US, this wonder plant suffers by association. Long despised by the cotton industry due to many advantages of hemp over cotton, some small …
Holiday Shopping and Giving
It is that time of year again! Holiday shopping and gift giving in a rush, but The Chic Ecologist is here to help! Whether searching for that perfect eco experience, trying to lower your impact on the environment this year, or finding unique green gifts for that special someone, I have the list for you! Holiday Shopping Guide Looking to …
Greener Cleaner Tile Floors – DIY Recipe for All-Natural Cleaner
We all want to know that the cleaners we use are getting the job done, but far too often, we settle for the path of least resistance – or so we think. Sure, it may be faster to simply grab a well-known brand’s bottle of cleaner and toss it in your shopping cart rather than going to the trouble of …
BloomThat – Local Powered Flower Delivery in SF
There is nothing like fresh cut flowers to brighten up a room, and who doesn’t like getting flowers? Now there is a speedy and green flower delivery service in San Francisco bringing joy to those in the 7×7. BloomThat is doing things a bit differently, and greening up an otherwise dirty industry. By sourcing local and in season flowers, they …
Eco Friendly Bamboo Clothing and Fabrics, or is it?
Bamboo is one of the most sustainable materials available today, but does that sustainability and eco-friendly label extend to bamboo clothes? The sad truth is, mostly no. The process to transform bamboo into clothing involves quite a bit of energy and produces chemical waste with environmental and health concerns. Bamboo is turned into yarn by cooking the bamboo plant in …
Learning From Bamboo Village – Part 3
The factory is up and running, albeit very inefficiently laments a native Keralan turned fortune 500 CEO turned self-help writer (who happened to be touring around with us, viewing the facilities). He ran Phillips, the appliance/TV company and quit after working to outsource production of Phillips products – and seeing the negative effects his work was having locally and globally. …
Where Does Bio-Plastic Go, Compost or Recycle Bin?
Corn plastic, otherwise known as polylactic acid (PLA), is rapidly replacing traditional petroleum based plastics for food containers, utensils, disposable cups and more, but how do you dispose of it? It is common to find a recycle symbol printed or molded into the container, and many also promote that the item is compostable or biodegradable. So what is the most …