Green goodies galore :: An EDGE Holiday Gift Guide
Lunch :: waste free and fabulous!
Although you might not think that a few plastic baggies could be that bad for the earth, when you consider the fact that hundreds of thousands of people - from little kids to old timers - bring their lunch to work or school each day, then multiply that by the number of work/school days in a year, you’ll quickly get overwhelmed. (And not just by the math- it’s also a LOT of plastic sandwich bags...) What can you do about it? Simple: stop eating.
Of course if you’re not in LA, that option might not be very practical - although moving towards a vegetarian diet does greatly decrease your carbon footprint. No matter what you take with you for lunch, however, you can make sure that it’s less harmful to the earth - and still stylish - with the Waste Free Lunch Kit from everydayJun.
Brilliantly designed, the Waste Free Lunch Kit includes an origami-esque lunch container that holds a sandwich and two snacks, a reusable beverage bottle and a cleverly designed ’spork,’ all in coordinating colors, all dishwasher safe, and (of course) all BPA- and lead-free. The whole bundle comes housed in a machine washable neoprene messenger style lunch bag, which has a removable front panel that can be swapped-out with 9 various designs, allowing you to customize your kit as often as you like. Cute, practical and eco-friendly- we like that!
The Waste Free Lunch Kit will save you - and the earth - and estimated 1,225 plastic bags, single-use water bottles and disposable plastic utensils each year. It’s available for $42 at www.everydayJun.com
Support Fair Trade & indigenous peoples :: Eat chocolate!
Isn’t it lovely when you can give a great gift and support a worthy cause or two at the same time? Yes! And that’s exactly what you’ll be doing when you order one of the organic Gift Boxes from Shaman Chocolates. Not just another sweet gift, Shaman’s Chocolates offer a socially responsible way to indulge! How? Simple: all profits from the company help support the Huichol Indians, a tribe living in central western Mexico in the Sierra Madre Mountains- considered by many to be the last Indigenous Tribe in North America to have maintained their pre-Columbian traditions intact.
For the holidays, Shaman Chocolates’ new Gift Box features beautiful flower-shaped solid chocolates in a variety of flavors. We love the Dark Variety Box, which includes flavors like Ruby Raspberries, Coconut, Acai, Lemon and Orange, and Green Tea & Ginger. (We also love the Extra Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate with Macadamia Nuts and Hawaiian Pink Sea Salt.) Of course you can always customize your order from a broad selection of chocolates, and you should probably pick up some rich chocolate bars for the stockings while you’re at it!
The Gift Boxes and Shaman Chocolate bars are available at hundreds of retailers nationwide and online at www.ShamanChocolates.com
The green bible
There’s one gift that’s good for anyone on your shopping list- no matter how green they are: the WHOLE GREEN CATALOG: 1,000 Best Things for You and the Earth. Featuring Renee Loux, the "Queen of Green" (and "environmentalist to the stars"- a title that - to be perfectly honest - makes us a bit queasy), the book includes both tips and tricks on how to introduce - or expand - green living in your life, as well as interviews with the likes of Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, David Duchovny and Helen Hunt on topics including organic living and "going green."
Much like the original Whole Earth Catalog from the 60s, the WHOLE GREEN CATALOG is an essential "roadmap for living a life that considers the needs of our planet." The book is available for about $30 at bookstores nationwide; less at Amazon.com For more info, www.WholeGreenCatalog.com
Beauty.... Naturally!
If you read Beautiful skin... naturally!, you know that we’re big fans of simple, fresh skincare. It seems we’re not the only ones- a fact made clear with the release of Narine Nikogosian’s Return to Beauty: Old-World Recipes for Great Radiant Skin. Essentially a "cookbook" of natural beauty remedies that can be made with ingredients found right in your kitchen, Narine believes in harnessing the power of nature to slow - and even reverse - the aging process and keep you looking your best. We like that.
Apparently a lot of celebs like it too; Narine is well known in Los Angeles, where her facials have become must-have pre-red carpet treatments for fans including Kirk and Anne Douglas, among many others. The book features recipes for all seasons, all of which can be whipped-up inexpensively in less than 10-minutes. Got some honey and walnuts? Mix-up a sensual aromatic scrub for oily skin. Extra cottage cheese? Use it to lighten under eye circles. Almond oil quickly takes care of dry, cracked lips, rehydrating and making them mistletoe ready! From toners to moisturizers to masques and more, Narine’s recipes are fresh, fun, inexpensive, and come from natural botanicals.
Return to Beauty is available for $25 at bookstores nationwide; less at Amazon.com
Next up :: sex toys, vegetables, and chocolate!
