A Croc of…?

When I want to discipline my daughter, I tell her I’m going to make her wear Crocs…she cries out in fear and falls right into line…

Can someone please tell me what is so great about Crocs? They are made of plastic, ugly as sin and must make your feet smell like hell…and they’re coming out with new styles and colors so everyone in your family can look like Minnie Mouse…

More trash, anyone? Or are they made of recycled something? Help?

???

Green Festival

Go.

Green Sex??????!!!!!!!

I’m sitting at my desk (finally) just having a quietly semi-productive stretch of work, when I surf over to Plenty to check out what they’ve got going on…

Sex.

Hot eco-friendly sex. (does this strike anyone else other than me as slightly oxymoronic?)

I mean, I suppose that sustainable living (loving?) should know no bounds. And I guess I should say a hearty thank you for awakening my consciousness to the existence of phthalate-free sex toys. (Should I ever need to make that purchase, I will be sure to google appropriately.) I’m not sure about the recommendations of pre-boiled fruits and vegetables, but, hey, I haven’t tried it, so why knock it? (Oh, sweetie, Mommy’s just in the mood for some extra carrots today.)

At least there’s a real basis to their information…my new friend, the endearingly quirky and brilliantly mordant Mark Morford, yoga teacher and San Francisco Chronicler, recently published a hilarious article “Let us get drunk and meditate: Here is your Zen green-tea liqueur and your Enlightenment Visa card. Go forth and levitate”

It could be worse. Instead of selling trash under the guise of green (like it seems almost everyone is doing these days), I suppose Plenty’s offering a real service by publishing their eco-sex tips. It got my attention.

I mean, who would’ve thought about buying all natural lubricant? (hmmm, probably me…should I ever be so lucky to be in that, ahem, position again.) But! Now I know where to get it when needed.

Just please don’t make me buy hemp lingerie.

GreenWave Hits San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel

I love the Fairmont Hotels–not just because I feel like a princess whenever I step into one of their locations, but also because this is a company that lives and breathes green.

I was fortunate to be invited to last night’s event “Our Planet, Under Covers” hosted by GreenWave Strategies and the San Francisco Fairmont (in the stunning Venetian Room–who needs to fly to Italy?) to educate local event planners on how to go green and still provide excellence, sophistication and beauty.

Did you know that the Event Planning industry is one of the top producers of waste and pollution? (I didn’t–it’s right behind contruction–higher on the list than transportation) Speakers like Georgia Malki of Seven-Star Events (they produced Al Gore’s Live Earth concerts), John Dickman of Google (he runs their stellar food service program–local, sustainable, organic, fresh) and Betsy Rosenberg (host and producer of the radio show EcoTalk) shared the stage with Jeff Senior from the Fairmont.

I wasn’t sure what to expect–the cynic in me wanted to go home after teaching and eat ice cream and pretend that the world isn’t coming to an end and that my daughter is still going to be able to swim in lakes without getting her brain eaten by amoebas–but I threw on a dress, snuck out the back door of the yoga studio and went anyway.

It was lovely. Even inspirational. To see mainstream companies not only talking about how to be green, but actually showing statistics of their success to an enthusiastic crowd of 200 dining on a dinner of local and organic food (Sturgeon, Butter Beans, Rainbow Chard–it rocked), well, it was a miracle. There was even a little flutter of hope in my chest.

One of the many highlights of the evening was a spin on the traditional “swag bag.” Instead of plying us with useless trashy gifts, we received recycled shopping bags with super cool Sigg bottles–and then we got to fill the bags with fresh produce from a “farm stand” that local farmer’s set up at 9pm at night! I have never seen so many people authentically laughing and enjoying themselves at a business event.

And–I still got my ice cream. Dessert? Local pluots with Straus vanilla ice cream.

Home Green Home

Okay, we know there are lots of reasons to get going on greening your home. So here’s a site to make it easier thegreenguide.com. I love how they have an entire section devoted to the Green Home Makeover–and they make it super easy–they provide links on where to get great green stuff and they give you all the facts you need to get your family and friends going green too. Plus, it’s run by National Geographic, how cool is that?

Global Girlfriend–Shop and Help a Sister Out

Looking for cute, eco-friendly clothes that don’t turn you into a frump? Featured in O Magazine, Global Girlfriend was founded to help women worldwide gain economic security. They get to make money and get more control over their lives, we get to consciously spend our dollars on really great women-made, fair trade, organic products that include stylish apparel, accessories and gifts.

Sounds like a win-win to me!

Doing Yoga is a Picnic with Woody Harrelson

In Amsterdam last week for the green Picnic Conference, activist actor Woody Harrelson brought out some yoga to inspire a crowd that included billionaire and eco-enticer Richard Branson (he paid out $700,000 to the winner of his Eco Challenge contest for the greenest idea).

Said Harrelson, “Certainly (oil companies) just want to get as much out of the ground and make as much money as possible before they transition into anything else,” Harrelson said. “So I still think it’s time for some strong activism, especially as it relates to our dependency on oil.”

Green Yoga

How many of us love yoga because of how it makes us feel (about 25 million and counting in the United States alone), and how many of us are discouraged and disheartened by the world today as we teeter in Tree Pose? The overwhelm can be paralyzing.

Green Yoga has swept in like a monk in shining armor, heralding the reminder that we are one. Green Yoga asks us to live ahimsa (nonviolence or love), the foremost principle of yoga. Green Yoga asks us to move past the destructive aspects of the ego, which strive to maintain the illusion of separateness by creating conflict. Green Yoga asks us to live in harmony with the world. Many spiritual traditions offer these same wise words. Green Yoga asks us to live our yoga principles off the mat.

We must learn to honor our “first piece of the environment…our bodies,” as San Francisco yoga teacher Katchie Ananda says, “then we learn to honor the larger environment…the Earth.”

Friday Favorites

1. Shiva Rea, Indigo Girls & Michael Franti at Power to the Peaceful
2. Jai Uttal at Spirit Rock
3. G.T. Dave’s Organic Kombucha
4. Bloodstream from Stateless
5. Hiking Tennessee Valley at sunset
6. Aveda Lip Shine